experiments
by wow.fanfic
Summary: Kate and Juliet are left with no one to count on but one another.
1. Chapter 1

Niether of them knew how this had happened. All they knew was they had been on the island alone together for over three months now. They had spent the first few weeks searching for other survivors who had maybe slipped through the cracks as well. Their search seemed to be in vain. No matter how hard they searched it seemed it was just the two of them here-wherever here was. Things had been tense at first, both of them unwilling to trust the other. They would watch one another carefully, not certain of what they were 'watching for', but ever on gaurd.  
Kate had immediately assumed it was some sort of twisted "others" experiment in screwing with the head of your average young fugitive plane crash survivor. She went about their first days in a suspicious, nervous and frightened (if she were truthful) state. The others were creative and sneaky with their little mind games but she could swear she had left any kind of perimeter they could have contained quite a few times in her search for her friends. It had been a long trek but when she made it to the beach only to find less than no evidence of the camp she had lived in for so long, she knew.

Juliet tried waiting patiently for those 48 hours that Kate dissapeared. She didn't know what else to do. The younger woman mentioned nothing of running off but she wouldn't would she? Kate didn't trust her any farther than she could throw her. It was on the second evening without the other woman that she felt the beginnings of panic creeping in on her. What if she didn't come back? What if she found a way out? Juliet would be left alone. It wasn't as if Kate had any reason to even mention her to any heroic rescuer that had saved her from-from this...not after what she had put the other woman through at Bengamin Linus' orders.  
She tried to concentrate on the novel in front of her, attempting to block out any of the unpleasentness that was currently her reality. What if she were alone now? She could handle alone, it wasn't as if she hadn't been alone before. Her entire time on the island it seemed she had been by herself, surrounded by people yet completely on her own. The incredibly annoying irony was that the last little while with only Kate as company, she hadn't felt like she was the only one allowed into that compfortable place in her mind where she was herself. Then she felt the tears start to stream down her cheeks, and began a whole new bout with trying to resist the hopeless desperate feelings her brain wouldn't stop pelting her with. She carefully marked her page and calmly placed the book on the coffee table in front of the sofa. While she put her boots on and grabbed her jacket she focused on her breathing, trying to hold down the tears that were threatening to rise up and drown her.

Kate hadn't stopped to rest once since leaving her old home. It was as if she couldn't get far enough away from the place that her own mind was trying to convince her had really happenned despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. She giggled to herself as she stumbled over a root, clearly too exhausted to pay attention to her surroundings on her forced march. But march to where? Then she looked around as if coming out of a fog to note that she was on the final leg of the path leading back to the barracks for the Dharma Initiative. The tiny little villiage the others had created for themselves in this unforgiving, unflinching, crazy little corner of the world they had ended up in.  
Juliet was here. She knew she had been horrible to the other woman with her neverending accusations and suspisions over their time trapped here. Juliet, it seemed, was just as innocently lost in this weird new aspect of the island as she, herself was. But what was she supposed to think, the devil on her other shoulder argued. It wasn't as if the cold and calculating blond hadn't messed with her before. What was she expected to deduce from their strange surroundings.  
Maybe she could have given her the benifit of the doubt. Of course that, for Kate, was an incredibly unrealistic expectation. She had never gotten anything but pain from those she had given the benifit of the doubt to, and had a very handy screaming voice in her head that warned her against such foolishness. But...  
That's when the outer fence of the compound came into veiw and she froze at the sound she heard accompanying it. She had to really concentrate for a moment before she could bring the pitiful sobbing noise into focus. She turned toward the house the two of them had been sharing and her feet began moving again.

Juliet was on the floor of the porch leaning against the outer wall of the house. Her knees she held hugged to her chest, her head resting on them. She hated the way she could feel her own shoulders and chest convulsing in her misery. She was being weak. Weak and stupid. She had wasted so much time in the past crying over situations beyond her control before and how many times had that helped anything? None. She just had to force herself to accept things as they were. Nothing else to be done really. Kate had left her. Left her alone to deal with her own mess. She tried to tell herself that was fine. She had survived on her own before, why should anything be different now? But it was. Everything was different now. Juliet wanted Kate to stay with her. She craved her bitter sardonic commentary on their current situation. That quirky smile when Juliet tried to challenge her on some abstract idea of how this happened. She missed her presence.  
She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt the hand squeeze her shoulder.

Kate saw her jerk back from her touch looking up at her with a shocked, confused and terrified expression. "It's ok." She immediately reasurred, "It's just me."  
Juliet looked at her for a moment as if trying to puzzle out a particularly difficult riddle. "You left." she said simply as if she had no right to be here now. Kate kept her distance for the time being seeing something familiar in the taller woman's eyes. Despair. Utter and hopeless despair.  
"I came back though." she spoke gently as if to a small child.  
Juliet watched the other woman sit down calmly on the floor beside her, her own back to the wall. 'yes, she came back-' she pondered as if trying to fathom the concept. "How come?"  
The raw disbelieving quality to her companions voice made her wonder. What has this woman been through. She had never in her life felt the instinct so strongly to reassure another...not since her mother. That obviously had blown up in her face so she wondered what silly little place inside her thought this was a good idea. She still faced Juliet as she put her hand on the other woman's knee. "I found the beach. There's nothing there. I think..." she paused for a deep breath, "we are alone here."  
"Well duh!" Juliet half snorted, half sniffled.  
Kate laughed at that. A sincere heartfelt laugh. She couldn't remember the last time she had allowed such a spontaneous ungaurded emotion to show itself on her. "Come on." she said standing up and extending her hand to the blond who was watching her carefully now as if looking for a trap.  
"Juliet, " she began, smiling amused. "this is not where I try to pull something."  
"No," she said feeling her face morph into something like the familiarity of reason as she reached up to take Kate's hand. "I geuss not."  
Kate didn't let go of her hand as she led her into the house. "What you want to look out for when I'm about to pull something," she smirked walking through the front hall into the kitchen, "is that evil genius glint in my eye."  
Juliet smiled as they stood in front of the fridge and turned to look at the other woman, "Kate, I don't mean to burst your bubble but you always have an evil genius glint in your eye." Kate's grin grew as she let go of the other woman's hand to open the fridge. "So what's for dinner?" she asked nonchalantly. "I forgot to pack a lunch."  
"Kate you've been gone for two days." Juliet stated in a deadpan tone. "Right," She bent to examine the contents of the fridge casually. "hence the hungry. Hey did you eat all the lasagna?"  
"I'm so glad you came back." Juliet couldn't stop herself from uttering the words anymore than she could stop herself from grabbing Kate by the shoulders and pulling her into a tight embrace. Kate let herself be held by the other desperate human being she seemed to be trapped with for a moment before mumbling into her shoulder. "Don't think this will make me forget about the lasagna."


	2. Chapter 2

chapter 2

Things seemed to change when Kate returned from her fact finding mission. Juliet could see the acceptance in the other woman's face. She was relieved that she didn't have to worry about being left behind again, but she worried about the quiet resignation she saw in the brunette's demeanor. It was as if this was her fate and she was recognizing it for what it was...nothing she could do about it.  
She tried to bring the other woman out of her silent reverie at every given oppurtunity. It seemed as soon as Juliet had gotten a grip on her own self Kate had withdrawn a little. Two days later, when Kate still seemed so withdrawn , she decided they needed to talk.

"What are you thinking about Kate?" the blond asked from her end of the garden they had decided needed their tending. "Kate?" she repeated seeing the blank expression the younger woman met her own with. "What?" Kate seemed to come back to herself as if from somewhere far away.  
"I asked you what you were thinking about." Juliet clarified. "Uhmmm..." Kate seemed to go into deep thought. "Fresh baked coiussants."  
Juliet laughed. "Really?"  
"Think about it we will never experience hot fresh baked pastries again." She said sadly.

It was a week later that Kate woke up to the smell of burning food. She left her bed rushing to the kitchen in concern that there was a fire. She stopped just shy of the entryway staring at Juliet with smudges of flour on her face and smoke surrounding her. "What the-?"  
Juliet seemed to look at the other woman then around at her surroundings and began to laugh.  
"What the hell is so funny?" Kate asked walking around the room to open all the windows and air out the smoke.  
"You were right it appears." Juliet breathed between giggles. "There will never be fresh coissants again."  
Kate froze staring at the other for a moment as if she had gone mad while they slept. Then she realized what the older woman had been trying to do. She was trying to make Kate fresh pastry. The surprisingly sweet gesture made her chest constrict. That Juliet had taken her offhand statement so clearly to heart. When she looked down at the flat shell shaped brown spots on the cookie sheet she too began laughing. "Yup, just as I suspected...we will never again taste real food that doesn't come wrapped with a Dharma Initiative label." It was then that they both doubled over laughing at that tiny aspect of their current circumstance. After that things began to relax between them and they often found themselves in the kitchen argueing over the proper way to cook something. Kate had searched the compound for some kind of cookbook to no avail so now it was just them to decide how to prepare any given dish. Kate and Juliet had little in common. However their lack of cooking skills seemed to match up perfectly.

It wasn't long after that when she heard Kate crying in the night. It broke her heart as she was drawn almost instinctively to the small sobs coming from the door to the room next to hers. Knocking lightly she slowly opened the door, "Kate, are you ok?"  
Kate sniffled quietly, "Yeah fine"  
"I can hear your not." Juliet said simply slowly approaching the bed. "Tell me what's wrong Kate."  
Kate seemed to struggle with her voice as she said in a high pitched tone, "I had a bad dream."  
Juliet didn't even think about it before she slipped under the covers with the brunette, who layed on her side with her back to the door. "I't's alright now," she whispered.  
Kate stiffened when she felt Juliets arm wrap around her waist. "I won't hurt you."  
Kate seemed to ponder those words for a moment before she relaxed into the other womans soft embrace. "I know." she finally uttered in a hoarse whisper. "Go back to sleep now." Juliet said matter or factly but didn't loosen her hold on the younger woman. "Thank you Juliet." Kate breathed.  
"For what?" she asked yawning and leaning in further to Kate's back. "For staying with me." she sounded incredibly vulnerable even to herself then. "Hey," Juliet kissed the back of her head in reassurance, "we're in this together right?"

After that Kate began watching the blond again. This time there was no suspicion. No looking for some evidence that Juliet wanted to hurt her. Now she watched with cautious curiosity. She replayed that night in her head over and over again and was sure Juliet had acted out of actual concern for Kate. Her worry was no longer the motives of Juliet's kindnesses but the flutter they seemed to cause in her chest.  
She saw the determined look on her face when they fought the seemingly unending weeds in the garden or repairs on the dwelling they had seemed to silently agree to co-exist in. She sometimes wondered what these lazy Dharma-ites would have done if they had to grow their own food or fix their own roofs without the assistance of the caffeteria or maintanence .  
She laughed out loud when she pictured Ben weeding his garden or even worse on a ladder trying to patch a hole in the roof.

Juliet paused in mid fold when she looked up at Kate self-consciously, who had walked in on her doing the laundry. "Something funny?" she asked in a gaurded tone. "Nope." She giggled.  
"Then why are you laughing?" she asked.  
"Just trying to picture Ben gap-folding his laundry."  
"Gap-folding?" Juliet asked confused.  
Kate walked over to the other woman and sat down beside her, an affectionate smile on her face as she pointed to the pile of shirts piled on the coffee table. It's how you find them folded in the retailers." "So?" Juliet furrowed her brow in confusion. Kate laughed again at how adorably ignorant the blond was. "Juliet," she began smirking, "Did you ever go to a thrift store or a free clothing bank to get a shirt?"  
"No-why would I-" she narrowed her eyes in mock annoyance. "Is this another one of those fun conversations where we discuss how I'm a spoiled doctor, and you in your breif time on this planet have truly lived on the edge?"  
"Yup. It's one of those conversations." she smiled proudly as she grabbed up one of Juliet's t-shirts between them and carelessly folded it in half as if to explain how it was done in the real world.  
Juliet stared at the shirt Kate had put next to her pile of neatly folded clothes, on the surface of the table, and seemed deep in thought for a minute. The brunette was right she had never worn a shirt that she didn't buy new. She furrowed her brow again, "So if I were to fold our clothes in a messy manor it would improve relations?" She asked sincerley.  
"Absolutely." Kate answered with a great deal of certainty. Juliet immediately grabbed up one of Kate's shirts and folded it in half and then again before putting it on the pile she had started. Kate smiled over at her with something akin to admiration, "Very cool." she grinned, as if no one before Juliet had given anything she had to say a second thought. "I could totally be cool," Juliet mumbled as she went back to gap-folding the shirts and placing them carefully in her pile. "Ya know if I had any such desire."  
Kate nearly fell off the couch as she burst into hysterics. "Of course you could be." she barely managed between giggles. "Juliet Burke-rebellious laundry folder."  
Then they were both laughing hard.

It was about a week after the great laundry debate when Juliet got bitten by the spider. They had been cleaning out she tiny basement thinking they would use it to store vegetables they had been practicing canning for the rainy season. Kate was upstairs getting another bucket of warm soapy water when she heard Juliet cry out. Dropping the bucket on the kitchen floor she raced back downstairs grabbing a cast iron frying pan on the way to use as a weapon against whatever had made Juliet yell. She found Juliet sitting on the floor holding onto her calf with both hands in an iron grip. She quickly scanned the room for any threat, and finding none knelt down quickly next to her freind. "What happened?" She asked anxiously cupping her face which was a mask of pain. "Something bit me." Juliet grunted between gritted teeth. "Let me see." She reached for Juliets hands only to have the other woman instinctively pull away from her tightening her grip on her wound.  
"Come on, don't be a baby." she teased trying to sound nonchallant while inside she was anything but.  
Her taunting tone seemed to do the trick and she managed to pry the blond's fingers off her leg. She carefully examined the two tiny puncture wounds in the center of a large circular bruise that seemed to be swelling and growing darker before her very eys.  
"Oh shit." Juliet's tone was matter of fact but her face clearly gave away the fact that this was serious. "Kate, give me your knife."  
"Huh?" Kate asked confused.  
"Your pocket knife! Now!" Juliet's harsh tone brought the younger woman back to reality and she quickly handed it to the other.  
"Ok, this is a spider bite, a bad spider." She was almost panting now. "I need to cut into it and suck the poison out." She explained her voice hoarse now,she was close to tears.  
"What? Really?" Kate asked astounded.  
"No, I just wanted to crack you up." she said taking the knife from the other woman and quickly sliced the now purple wound open with a shallow long straight line. "Ahhh!" she screamed and took a deep breath trying to keep herself together. Her forehead was now covered in light sheen of sweat.  
Kate watched amazed as she tried to bend over pulling the wound up to her lips. "Wait," she said, "let me."  
"No Kate it's dangerous...if you swallow any of the venom-" her voice broke off.  
"So no swallowing. Right," Kate took her leg and put her lips to the cut. She quickly began sucking at the wound and spitting out the bitter tasting blood. Juliet watched the other woman with amazement. It seemed nothing intimidated this fearless young woman. She repeated the action half a dozen times before the doctor put a steadying hand on Kates hand. "It's enough," she said still breathing hard but she could see the purple fading.  
"You sure?" Kate met her eyes doubtfully.  
"Anything left has already entered my blood stream." She said trying to reasure her that there was nothing else she could do .  
Kate's eyes widened nervously, "Your bloodstream? Why doesn't that sound like a good thing?"  
"Well it's not ideal," Juliet said weakly, "but you got to it quickly so i'm sure it will be ok."  
"Come on, upsy daisy," she said wrapping her arm around Juliet's torso and lifting her to her feet. "Let's get you out of this killer spider ridden basement."  
Juliet leaned heavily on Kate as the brunette slowly helped her up the stairs. She fairly collapsed on the sofa Kate brought her to. "Not bad for a scrawny chic." she tried to joke but her voice was filled with pain.  
"Who you calling scrawny?" She huffed.  
Juliet laughed, a tiny hollow sound to Kate's ears.  
"What now?" She asked forcing her voice to remain calm and steady.  
"Upstairs. My bag. There's a venom kit." she groaned feeling herself becoming dizzy.  
"Got it!" Kate took off at the speed of light, returning with Juliet's back so quickly it made the blond's head spin even more. She watched Kate rifling through her bag desperately until she saw her pull the right rectangular box out of it. "This?"  
"Mmm-hmmm," she murmered. "There's a syringe. Fill it with the liquid."  
Kate clumsily took the syringe out and jabbed the tip into the small bottle filled with a milky substance. "Like this?" she asked nervously holding up the now full needle.  
"Yes-good..." Juliet suddenly began coughing and the raw throaty sound made Kate want to scream for help even though she knew there was no one else to help her.  
"Quickly, my shoulder.." The blond maoned.  
Kate jabbed the point in without hesitation, using the plunger to push the anti-venom in.  
"Hey, pretty good...for an amatuer..." Juliet smiled right before her eyes seemed to roll back in her head and she passed out.  
"What? No." she grabbed Juliet by the shoulders. "Hey what now?"  
It was no use of course the older woman was now unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

chapter 3

Juliet had been unconscious for almost 24 hours now, and Kate felt like she was at the end of her rope. She had dragged every bit of bedding in the house to the living room floor before laying the blond on it so she could stretch out. Apparently a pointless excercise since the only position the other woman seemed to be compfortable in was curled up in a sweating, trembling ball.  
Kate only left her side to get a fresh damp towell for her forehead, or some cold water to drizzle in her mouth, or to relieve herself. She didn't think about praying, she wasn't the praying type. She didn't notice if she got hungry...she could never eat if she were under stress anyway. She couldn't have closed her eyes to rest even if she wanted to.  
Her thoughts seemed to be at def-con 4, and all she could do was focus on the other woman's breathing. She made sure that and her pulse were steady and sure. "I'm sorry," those words seemed to pull Kate instantly out of her reverie.  
"What? Juliet? What did you say?" she asked frantically close to her ear.  
"I trie-I wanted to-Racheal..." The words were barely a moan but Kate heard them as clearly as a bell.  
She grabbed the water bottle lifting Juliet's head into her lap to feed her a few drops.  
"It's ok now." she said in her most confident voice, "Everything's gonna be alright now."  
Juliet seemed to shudder hard before she opened her eyes that seemed to be a little out of focus, "Kate?"  
"Yup that's me." Kate smiled bigger than she ever remembered doing before. "Right here."  
"Wha- appened?" she mumbled incoherently.  
"We apparently got pests," Kate giggled feeling a little dilerious herself, "Don't worry I'll call terminex."  
"Kay..." and then she heard Juliet's breathing begin to sound normal for the first time since she was bitten as she seemed to fall off into a deep peaceful slumber nuzzling her head into Kate's thigh. Kate closed her eyes in relief, her own breathing seeming to match the other womans, but she still didn't fall asleep. She continued to carefully listen for anything from the blond that she may need to take care of.

Juliet woke up aching all over on a pile of damp blankets with Kate's face practically flush with her own. She remained still for a few minutes trying to decipher her surroundings. The sharp throbbing in her calf brought the memory of the spider bite flooding back. They had been in the basement, she recalled hazily, cleaning...then. She couldn't remember getting upstairs. She closed her eyes again concentrating. That's when Kate's face reappeared even with her eyes closed. She had dragged her upstairs. She had gotten the venom kit and injected her with the serum. She should not be breathing now after that bite but somehow...  
She reached up to touch Kate's face. It cost her. She had never felt so weak in her life.  
"Whaa-huh-Julie-" her thought seemed to find coherence and she managed to push herself up into sitting position. "You're back!" she declared happily.  
"Did I-I go somewhere?" Juliet studdered.  
"Yes. Oz." Kate laughed at her own joke.  
"Yeah?" she attempted to sit up then groaned falling back to the floor. "Did we have fun?"  
Kate smiled at her use of the word 'we' and brushed some stray hairs of her face. "We had a blast!"

They stayed there another night sleeping in a pile of stinky bedding. Kate was so happy that Juliet seemed to be better. Juliet was ecstatic just to be breathing, which she knew she owed to the beautiful young woman next to her. She watched the younger woman that night after she fell into an exhausted slumber, her features were drawn and she knew Kate hadn't allowed herself to rest for quite sometime. She searched for a flaw on that perfectly peaceful face but could find nothing.  
'careful Juliet...' a small voice whispered in the back of her head. She quickly blocked the voice out, instead focusing on how happy she was to be here, alive, with Kate.

When they finally made it upstairs Kate helped her get ready for a bath. When she tried to start undressing her, Juliet laughed saying she could handle it and banished Kate to the bedroom. That was as far as Kate would go though, saying she should be nearby in case anything happened. After sitting on the edge of the bed, which she had freshly made up, for a few minutes, she found herself wandering around the room making sure everything was set up for Juliet. Pitcher of cold water and glass-check. cup of tea-check. Hot water bottle-check. Tylenol-check.  
"What are you doing?" Juliet said in an amused tone.  
Kate jumped a little startled and met Juliets eyes blushing.  
"Ah...fluffing your pillows." she admitted embaressed. "Wow, I don't even think they did that for us rich doctors at the Hilton. " she smirked walking slowly toward the bed. Kate had to force herself to resist escorting her there.  
Juliet sat down and took a deep breath. "Are you Ok?"  
Kate realized she had been staring and blushed again. "Yeah. What? Me? Sure. Fine." she rambled incoherently. Juliet smiled warmly, "I'm ok now Kate."  
"Argh...I know," she rolled her eyes, "It's just-"  
When she met Juliet's eyes the blond seemed to understand completely. "I know," she said softly.  
"Can you help me get situated?" Juliet asked even though she was perfectly capable.  
Kate rushed over, incredibly grateful to have a task. "Here, stand up for a sec." Kate held her elbow easing her up. She only let go when she was sure the older woman had her balance. Juliet watched the brunette carefully turn down the bed for her and felt an odd sensation of well being. She hadn't felt safe in so long. But here, now, with Kate looking after her she was strangely confident everything would be alright.  
Kate knew Juliet was just taking pity on her incredibly awkward state when she allowed her to tuck her in. "There," she pulled up the blankets to the other womans chin and caught Juliets barely hidden smirk. "Too much?" she asked standing up and crossing her arms across her chest returning the blond's smirk.  
Juliet's face split into a dazzling smile, "Uh-Uh."  
Kate's own smile grew as big as hers. She had been scared Juliet would think she was being pesky, and make her go away. Away from Juliet seemed to be a crazy concept now. Both of their minds were beginning to get lost in thought when Juliet's stomach made a not so subtle announcement of needing nourishment. "Oh," the blond blushed, "I think I might be hungry." she added sheepishly.  
Kate's eyes suddenly went wide, "Oh crap! Food! Yeah, duh, feed the patient."  
Juliet laughed.  
"Soup?" Kate seemed to come back to herself in the face of something else she could be useful for.  
"Chicken noodle?" Juliet said salivating at the idea.  
"Coming right up." Kate said rushing out. Juliet heard her rush down the stairs and then immediately rush back up. "You ok?"  
"Soup, Kate." Juliet said in a teasingly slow voice. "Right." and with that she was gone again.

They ate their soup and crackers together, Kate sitting in a chair next to the bed, as the sun went down. Juliet was glad that the smaller woman seemed to calm down as they ate their dinner. They were sitting in companionable silence when the doctor reached out to take Kate's hand. "Thank you." Kate looked at her face filled with sincere gratitude, and felt her own become warm with the other's sentiment. "Anytime." she shrugged casually.  
Squeezing Juliet's hand she stood up. "It's dark." she observed for the first time, "I should let you get some sleep."  
Juliet held her hand tighter, and shyly met Kate's eyes. "I don't wanna be alone, will you please stay?"  
Kate fairly glowed with happiness at Juliet's request. She peeled her jeans off, their eyes locked and smiled standing there for a moment. Juliet seemed hypnotized by the younger woman's adorable grin.  
"Well, shove over, I'm not sleeping in the chair." Kate said in a deadpan tone.  
Juliet did and Kate climbed in next to her. Turning off the light Kate settled in next to the other woman. She was shocked when she felt Juliet's fingers intertwine with her own, but quickly relaxed and had never meant anything more in her life when she said in a soft voice, "I'm glad you're still here."  
Juliet snorted squeezing her hand, "Me too."


	4. Chapter 4

Kate was relieved that Juliet's recovery was complete with no notable lasting side effects, at least for the blonde. Kate, herself, continued to dream of the doctor and herself in rather 'compromising positions'. Sleeping in her own bed though, at least she didn't need to worry about molesting the other woman in her sleep, and to be honest, began to look forward to going to bed. The dreams were so vivid. She hadn't experienced such total recall of her sleeping mind's thoughts since she was little and had terrible nightmares about Wayne. Back then she had actually had a hard time distinguishing between what was a dream and what was real.

Of course these nightly visitations from her beautiful friend were in no way unpleasant, and all she could do was fight it. Fight it or embrace it. Allowing the dreams to come, left her in a rather relaxed state of mind. It was when she tried to force her thoughts away from the truth in her heart that these feelings became overwhelming. When she tried to pretend, even with herself, nothing of consequence was happening she almost always ended up with a stomach ache.

It was a little frustrating trying to be careful not to let on to Juliet how she felt. She was sure the other woman would be mortified to know that her brain was using her visage as fuel for her masturbatory fantasies, even if she was unconscious at the time. Once in a while she caught herself gazing at Juliet lost in thoughts she should most definitely not be entertaining.

There had been one close call when Juliet had come to check on her in the night. Shaking her awake from a particularly real image of Juliet pinning her up against the wall of the shower doing things to her she had only ever seen in rated NC-17 movies. Kate had lied and said it was a bad dream about the smoke monster that had made her scream. When Juliet offered to stay with her she was afraid she had been a little to vehement in her refusal, quickly explaining that Juliet shouldn't have to come to her rescue every time the boogey man invaded her subconscious.

Juliet began to worry about the younger woman. She could completely understand Kate's fears manifesting as night terrors. Forget about her hideous childhood but then being dropped into this hell where there was creepy Ben, strange polar bears, time travel, smoke monsters and now the rest of the real world pretty much disappearing. It was a wonder the brunette was keeping it together as well as she was.

The skies had begun to darken earlier than what was usual for this time of year. Juliet tried to tell herself everything else here was completely out of whack so why should the weather be any different. Kate had only been here for the tail end of the rainy season last year which had been mild to begin with. In Juliet's four years on the island she had seen some pretty awe inspiring displays of the power mother nature was capable of. But even in her time she had never seen the worst of it. Her co-workers had told her stories that at the time she had taken with a grain of salt. When the winds and rains had begun to pick up speed at an alarming rate she began to wonder if her neighbors were maybe not exaggerating. Not wanting to alarm the younger woman she had been intentionally nonchalant. Kate had enough on her mind.

She did a quick survey of the pantry one day while Kate was gathering what she could of the nuts and berries. Most of the fruit had blown down to the ground by now rotting quickly with the heat and moisture in the air. At least they had canning down now and thanks to Kate remembering a vague recipe for preserves from her grandmother they even had something resembling strawberry jam. What they had in the pantry (in reality a big shed filled with emergency supplies) Juliet had calculated was nearly enough nonperishable's to keep them alive for just about three quarters of the islands twisted version of winter. With what they had been able to gather on their own there really shouldn't be any problems. It did not stop Juliet from worrying though.

She wasn't quite sure when it had happened but she was now fully conscious of her need to look after the younger woman. She felt completely responsible for Kate's well being and took that responsibility very seriously. When the winds had picked up so much that when they were scrounging any last vestiges they could from the garden and Kate had been literally pushed off her feet, Juliet had decided it was enough. From now on they were homebodies, well at least her companion was. She sometimes waited until Kate was asleep and went to do a frenzied recount of their supplies or checked some last minute repair. Double checking was one thing, but when she caught herself doing it repeatedly she forced herself to chill out. At this point there was little she could do to improve their situation anyway beyond keeping up a positive attitude.

Of course she knew part of this being hyper vigilance had more to do with keeping her mind occupied with the practical rather than the fanciful. Katherine Austin had most definitely gotten under her skin. Sometimes she had to remind herself that these feelings were a one way street. They seemed to have such an easy interaction; nothing was ever complicated or misunderstood anymore.

Juliet found herself thinking of college. They had been the clichéd college roommates that had been drunk one night and let things go a bit too far. Unfortunately Juliet had been in love and Tamara had just been horny. This was never a good combination. She somehow managed to laugh the night off with Tamara as the rites of passage of silly college girls. She had never again let herself feel that way about another woman. The reality of getting her heart broken being a little too much for the occasionally oversensitive young woman to even fathom going through again.

Men were just easier. Although she hadn't even had much experience in the hetero relationship department, shortly after medical school her ex-husband had very nearly swept her off her feet. He was sophisticated, successful, and debonair. She simply blocked out the part where she wasn't really physically attracted to him. Racheal had thought he was slimy from the beginning, but when in the history of man did anyone ever take the wise advice of an older sibling. All too quickly after the enchanting wooing and big fancy wedding did Juliet realize the honeymoon was never even going to begin. Edmund, you see had not only gotten a trophy wife in the pretty young woman sense of the word but also got a successful intelligent partner. He was completely content. She however felt like she was drowning.

After she discovered his third affair she seemed to find her backbone and decided anything, including alone was better than this… trying to ignore the truth. There was no big drama. That was the saddest part, she told him she wanted a divorce and why, and he had graciously understood, not even attempting to talk her out of it or make any untrue promises of changing. It was shortly after that she had come to the island and truly learned the meaning of alone.

Until Kate. With Kate she felt like she was really with someone… for maybe the first time in her life. She couldn't let that be jeopardized by inconsequential little details like she was pretty sure she was falling in love with her. No, everything would be fine if she could just manage to keep up the status quo. There really wasn't much of a choice anyway. The younger woman was straight, Juliet had been pretty sure she had been in love with Jack before they had managed to get off the island.

When they came back though, there was definitely some strange unpleasant friction between Kate and Jack. Though she had never asked exactly what had happened, she knew Kate did not feel the same way as she had about the handsome doctor. She had actually begun to let herself believe there might be some kind of connection between the two of them. Kate had managed to kick that foolish theory straight in the gut the actual night before all of life had taken a strange and sudden u-turn onto the streets of crazyville.

When they had battened down all the hatches and seemed to be settling in for the long winters night Juliet found she had to try to keep her distance a little from the other woman. The last thing in the world she wanted was to make Kate uncomfortable. With little else to do they played board games, Kate often kicking her ass at chess but Juliet clearly the superior player when it came to scrabble. They had movies on beta but didn't want to waist the limited gas they had for the generator on frivolous things. As it turned out they might as well of used up the fuel when one night a few weeks into their self induced sequester inside the house the generator just _stopped_.

Kate was furious. She had made a personal project of reading the generator manual cover to cover. She had even studied the machine up close and personal trying to anticipate anything that could possibly go wrong. Unfortunately no matter what she tried she could not manage to get the thing to co-operate. Kate was embarrassed and ashamed that she was letting Juliet down like this and despite herself, found that she was moping. She of course noticed Juliet's attempt to cheer her up with little things like toasting dried mangos speared on the end of chopsticks over the flames of the fireplace, which was now their only source of heat. They had of course filled the basement with chopped dried timber and kindling with the space they had after food storage. There really was no emergency…a few baths with water heated over the fire instead of the convenience of a quick shower. Reading by candlelight strained their eyes , but beyond that, really no great hardship.

One night in the middle of a game of hearts the front picture window had blown out causing minor cuts, a minor flood, and major laughter.

Afraid the doctor might notice she was thinner than she usually was encased in the soaking wet clothes she went for the diversion, "Hey, who was in charge of windows anyway?" Kate asked giving her best furrowed brow after they had used duck tape, an eraser board and some plastic sheeting to block the window.

"That was so your department." Juliet grinned mopping up some of the flood that had overtaken their kitchen floor with a towel.

"Oh really, how ya figure?" Kate inquired good naturedly.

"You were in charge of the overall structure," Juliet said after a thoughtful moment.

"Huh?" Kate laughed disbelievingly.

"You did the reinforcements of the doors." Juliet submitted as rational testimony in the great mystery of who was responsible for the broken picture window.

"And you did the holes in the roof, also structural." Kate argued pointedly.

"So we fortified the roof and the doors but it never occurred to us that the plate glass might be a problem?" Juliet gave a full belly laugh.

"Yeah we're a couple of geniuses huh?" Kate continued their self mocking.

When they finished cleaning up the broken glass and water Kate moved into the living room to sit in front of the fire shivering lightly in her damp clothes. Forgetting for a moment that she was trying to conceal her figure she panicked when she was brought back to the here and now by the doctors concerned tone, "No, no, no…" Juliet grabbed her hand pulling her up to stand. "I swear sometimes you're like a small child." She laughed affectionately.

"What?" Kate asked indignantly, praying inwardly that the older woman hadn't noticed her ribs which showed prominently through the light blue shirt, if it got wet. Note to Self: lose the blue work shirt until summer, she thought annoyed with her own stupidity. She meant to wear baggy clothes until the rainy season was over and she had made certain Juliet had enough to eat.

Now, they usually made a big meal and ate that for the rest of the day for all their meals . This made it easy to look like she was eating her share. She didn't remember when Juliet's life became more important to her than even her own, but there seemed to be nothing she could think of that she wouldn't do for the beautiful older woman.

"You are going to catch pneumonia." Juliet said disapprovingly leading her upstairs and not letting go of Kate's hand until she reached her door.. "Dry clothes. Now."

Kate entered her own room as Juliet went on down the hall to hers. "Yes mother." She called after the blonde. She smiled at her own tone, feeling herself begin to regain her natural confident healthy sardonic attitude. It was good to be her, she mused smiling wider as she looked down at the hand Juliet had just been holding. She had to laugh at herself when she had the spontaneous thought she should never wash her left hand again.

"That's so funny…" Kate heard Juliet's voice echo down the hallway in response to the mom crack as the brunette went to her dresser and pulled out a pair of sweatpants, long sleeve jersey and sweatshirt to put on. Stripping out of her wet jeans and work shirt into the comfy outfit she was indeed much warmer but would never admit that to the other woman. The blonde did not need to be wasting her time taking care Kate, and she hated it when she got the sense that that was exactly what was happening.

When Juliet came back down to the fire she saw that Kate had beaten her to it and had built it up to roaring, making the living room almost comfortably warm. She also saw the bottle of wine and glasses Kate had brought out for them.

"Wine, huh?" asked the tall blonde.

"Just thought it might take the edge off." Kate smiled pouring them each a glass.

"Taking the edge off sounds good." Juliet smiled sitting down next to her on the floor in front of the fireplace. When Kate handed her the full wine glass she accepted it gratefully.

They were a couple of glasses into the rather large bottle when Juliet began giggling rather hysterically.

"Sorry," she paused to laugh some more, "I was just trying to picture someone telling me, I'd be sitting here with you like this at two o 'clock, six months ago. "

Kate smiled forlornly and nodded, "Yeah," she said a little sadly, "Why would you be caught dead hanging out with the trailer park trash unless I were literally the last person on earth."

Juliet froze as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water over her head when she saw the blindingly obvious pain in the brunette's expression. "No…I just meant-"

"I'm kinda tired," Kate said trying to sound casual, but Juliet could see she was feeling hurt. "Do you mind making sure the fire's out?"

The blaze was basically coals now anyway and Kate wasted no time in rushing past her companion to head upstairs, leaving a dumbstruck Juliet behind.

Juliet didn't seem to find her own voice until it was too late. She heard Kate's door close gently but intentionally loud enough for the taller woman to hear. She was utterly bewildered that Kate could be worried about their different classes in this unnatural almost…well yes supernatural universe they found themselves in. She wanted to rush upstairs into Kate's room and reassure her that there was nothing like that between them. What she did instead was have another glass of wine and head up to her own bedroom to fall into a fitful and lonely sleep.

That night she dreamt of Kate and woke up with a strangled cry of "I love you."

She had sat up straight in bed wondering why the beautiful younger woman's arms were not wrapped around her before she came back to reality. She felt strange…realizing all she wanted in the world was for Kate to hold her. She had to force herself back into a restless slumber.

Kate had done what she always did the next morning whenever anything got a little too _real_. She made breakfast and pretended the night before didn't happen. Juliet hated when Kate responded to any given situation that was at all emotional by needing to suddenly be somewhere else. Not necessarily even needing to leave physically. Kate was a master at being in one place and yet not really being mentally present there. Juliet didn't need to be a psychiatrist to figure out what had made the young petite woman such a master at this.

When she walked into the kitchen the next morning Kate was using the last of the fresh blueberries in pancakes. She didn't look up from her cooking to give Juliet that winning smile she often wore first thing in the morning before anything had a chance to go wrong. Instead she kept her eyes on what she was doing. She did not act like she hadn't seen the older woman she just couldn't seem to meet her gaze.

"Good morning," She managed to make it sound chipper even through the tension between them was palpable.

"Morning." Kate said sullenly.

"Pancakes?" she asked conversationally.

"The blueberries needed to be used." Kate explained simply.

"Blueberry pancakes, mmmmm…" Juliet smiled walking over to look over her shoulder at the mix Kate was now adding the blueberries to. She took a step back when she noticed Kate visibly stiffen at her close proximity. Giving up she mumbled that she would start the fire.

Kate had rigged a steel grill from a barbecue into the fire so they could cook over it easier. She had just gotten a respectable flame going when the younger woman walked in.

The silence was daunting as they cooked their breakfast and probably lunch in the fireplace. Kate tried to avoid her eyes as she knew Juliet was trying to catch her gaze. About halfway through eating her plate, Juliet frowned when she saw Kate pushing half of her already small portion back into the pan.

"Aren't you hungry?" she asked concerned.

"I ate half a bag of potato chips while I was cooking." Kate lied.

Juliet had noticed how little Kate ate before, but just chalked it up to her tiny little frame filling up more easily.

After a few more minutes of silence Juliet opened her mouth to speak. Strangely at the same moment Kate did the same, they each said the other's name in a quiet serious voice. Both of them laughed a little and they could feel the walls of tension around them slipping away.

"Kate," Juliet began after they both just sat there for another moment looking at one another. "I just meant…well-I helped kidnap you, I held you at gunpoint. That your still here with me, after all that, it's kind of strange."

Kate felt her own insecurities melt away at the deep etched frown lines around Juliet's mouth, her guilty eyes making Kate's heart ache.

"Why?" Kate's tiny little straightforward inquiry surprised even herself.

Juliet looked at the younger woman for a moment, thinking about her simple question, that came with an equally complex answer. She was about to say something lame about it being complicated and really didn't excuse her behavior anyway, when the name fell almost involuntarily from her lips. "Racheal."

She had been wondering who Racheal was for some time now, but had forced herself to respect Juliet's privacy. Kate now forced herself to remain as calm and passive as she could. She needed to be patient and give Juliet the time she needed to explain. She remembered when the blonde had been delirious with fever and seemed to think she was 'Racheal'. She had apologized to her then and Kate had been a little floored with the other woman's intensity and utter sincerity.

"She's my sister." Juliet forced the words off her tongue. It felt a little surreal talking about this with anyone. She had talked about her sister with Ben, but that had been different. That had been the man who held the keys to her invisible cage, making sure she knew that he had this incredible almost godlike power over life and death. Racheal's life anyway, and consequently, Julian's. She had never met the boy but felt a deep abiding love for the child that was almost primal. The image of him and his mother playing at the park on the fuzzy screen she had been allowed to view all too briefly was indelibly scorched into her subconscious. Having the power he did over the only two people in the world that meant anything to her-no everything to her-gave him carte blanche over Juliet, and they both knew it.

The range of emotions on the doctor's face was vast and clearly she was having difficulty in trying to arrange them in her own head. Kate met Juliet's eyes unflinchingly trying to convey to her that she was here for her, the other woman was not alone.

Juliet saw the sentiment in the younger woman's eye's as plainly as if she had spoken the words of reassurance aloud and smiled a small vulnerable smile at the encouragement. Taking a deep breath she bagan…

Explaining Racheal's terminal illness to Kate was hard. Telling her of how she had managed to come up with a treatment that helped Racheal get pregnant and then the seeming full remission made her smile. Everything had been so perfect, both of them completely happy at the prospect of welcoming a new Burke into the world.

Kate was a little amazed at the acutely deep love that the blonde had for her sister. Growing up the way she did she almost couldn't fathom being that close to a family member, except in the case of her grandmother. The brunette had not only loved the old woman but had actually liked her. The brash, no nonsense, ever practical woman had been the only role model she had ever had. She remembered when she was 11 and at the funeral. She had felt numb, almost broken, and as Juliet explained that Racheal was always only one missed miracle treatment away from being as dead as her grammy, her heart broke a little for the other woman.

"That son of a bitch!" Kate said angrily as she began to understand that at the touch of a button he could have Juliet's sister's secret cancer curing shot's stopped.

Juliet looked down at her hands which were twisting together anxiously in her lap. "I'm so sorry…" she said her voice high and edgy. "I know it doesn't excuse what I did-but I was just so scared, I…I- couldn't let anything happen to them." She sniffled trying to stifle a little sob, " I just couldn't."

Kate's eyes widened with the realization of Juliet's expectations of her being angry. She seemed to be waiting for Kate to let her have it…tell her that did not in any way pardon her crimes against Kate and her friends. Juliet's shoulders were hunched, shaking a little as she cried silently over what she had put so many people through because of her trusting stupid nature. The job offer from the charismatic Richard had intrigued her so much she hadn't really thought through the consequences of rushing headlong into a situation she really knew nothing about. She cried for all those women who had died because of her failure to help them. She cried for not being able to be there for the only person in the world who mattered to her at all when she needed her most. She cried for what she had put Kate through.

"Juliet," Kate spoke softly moving closer to the other woman and wrapping her in a warm reassuring hug. "It wasn't your fault."

Those simple words of forgiveness from the woman who seemed to have claimed ownership over her heart opened the floodgates of all of the powerful extremely confusing emotions she had been pushing down for nearly half a decade now. Kate held her close as she fell apart in her embrace. Gently stroking her hair as Juliet's face pressed into her neck desperately trying to get away from the world to some place safe, she whispered soft nonsensical reassurances and rocked her soothingly. God, she thought to herself, how she loved this amazing woman that was allowing her into such a private place inside her. She silently vowed to herself if she ever had occasion to ever meet Benjamin Linus again she wouldn't hesitate to make sure he suffered greatly for what he had done to Juliet.


	5. Chapter 5

No matter how busy Kate kept herself that day she couldn't get the stunning image of one Juliet Burke out of her head. While she was collecting fruit, she found herself smiling at the memory of when all this lunacy had begun.

That night she had finished working her shift at the garage, Juliet as always, getting on her nerves in a big ugly way. When it was finally quitting time, she had been on her way to look for Hurley and Miles to see if they wanted to join her for dinner when Juliet stopped her with a request for some assistance changing out the tires on one of the Dharma Initiative mini vans. The blonde doctor turned mechanic had looked exhausted and Kate knew she didn't want to be there either. Kate really wanted to plead '_useless due to being completely pooped'. _But if the woman who was nearly a decade her senior and had probably never done manual labor a day in her life before the island could handle it then she certainly could. With both of them working as quickly as possible it didn't take long and Juliet had actually seemed to be attempting polite small talk, which you know, the two of them never did.

Kate was about to try and leave the garage for the second time that evening, when Juliet asked out of the blue what she was _up to_ for dinner. Kate's first impulse had been to ask her what the hell it was to her. Unfortunately Kate never took the time to think about anything long enough before that pesky first instinct took possession of her mouth. Juliet had looked as if she had slapped her across the face. Then Kate realized that the other woman was not just being nosy. She had meant to invite her to join her for the meal.

Kate could have sworn she saw a flicker of hurt feeling's before the blonde transformed her face into the neutral standoffish expression she usually wore. She was about to actually apologize to the woman who had held her prisoner not so long ago.

"Never mind." Juliet said and her cheeks were a little red as she looked at the floor clearly embarrassed .

"I-" she opened her mouth.

"Please-just forget I asked." She said in a small voice before brushing past Kate into the chilly overcast night, leaving the younger woman standing there with her mouth agape and her face a mask of confusion and…regret?

Kate tried to shrug it off with, 'who cares if I hurt poor little Dr. Evils feelings?', of course that didn't work. As good as she was at fooling the world with her trusty suit of armor. That 'I don't give a shit about-insert random person, place or thing-attitude that she used so often due to the fact that she did care, sometimes too much.

After dinner with the guys she went home to the barracks where she shared a small room with Becky, a girl from a small town in no where backwoods Maine, who never seemed to stop being excited about her big adventure. She was perky. Kate hated perky. She often came home late in order to avoid overly optimistic spirited conversation with the other young woman.

She had laid there for a long time that night unable to sleep, her head still reeling from that last image of Juliet. The sad, no actually hurt expression combined with the disconcerting blush. She was still shocked, who knew crazy fertilization specialist/tight ass prison guard even had emotions? That was probably what bothered her most, because a great deal of the time people trampled over Kate's own feelings assuming the same thing about her.

She had eventually drifted off into a relatively peaceful slumber only to wake up to find that the world had suddenly left her behind in this terrifying nightmare with only the woman she had spent the evening psycho analyzing for company.

That first five days they hadn't stopped looking for somebody else, anybody else. They were extremely dubious of one another but neither was stupid enough not to recognize safety in numbers. They only stopped their search long enough to sleep when they felt they were gonna drop if they didn't. They pretty much lived on the fruit, nuts and berries they happened across. It was on the third day that Kate had made the snide comment about at least not having to worry about being poisoned this way. Juliet had merely lifted an eyebrow as if to say, 'sure about that Austin?'

Kate was halfway up a coconut tree, when the memory of the now running joke, made her smile affectionately. Now whenever either of them handed the other something to eat that hadn't been sealed in Dharma packaging, the recipient of said nourishment would raise an eyebrow suspiciously trying to maintain a straight face.

When she was watering the garden she remembered that time a couple of weeks before when they had been sweating their asses off weeding for two hours straight. It was Kate who started it when she heard Juliet complain for the umpteenth time about sweat dripping in her eyes. Turning the hose on her she had efficiently solved the blonde's problem with the perspiring, which of course had led to an epic water fight. Kate remembered noting that Juliet had a great body then but just in an abstract observation. Now thinking back she felt a warm feeling in her lower belly at the image of the blonde In the clinging wet –shirt. Shaking her head she fought to get those new strange reactions to her friend out of her mind. Shutting off the spigot she grabbed her backpack of gathered food and headed back to the house.

When she arrived she found Juliet curled up in a ball on the sofa snoring lightly. She looked so small and peaceful. Kate had to fight the urge to brush her fingers tenderly against her flawless porcelain cheek. Instead she settled on grabbing the light blanket and gently covering her. She found herself standing there for a long time lost in thought staring at the beautiful older woman. So much had changed between them throughout this ordeal. It seemed like she had just begun to think of her as a friend and now this-this-this-whatever the hell this was. 'Your attracted to her dumbass' she told herself wryly, 'deal with it.'

This thought brought her out of her reverie and she quickly kept thinking she was not only weird but a little creepy watching the other woman sleep. Moving into the kitchen she began taking the ingredients for toasted cheese out of the fridge.

Juliet opened her eyes when she left. She had become aware of Kate's presence when she was covering her up but hadn't fully opened her eyes. Instead she had watched the brunette through a slit of one eye watching her. The expression on her face made her curious. She almost looked like she was studying her, not with malice, but genuine interest and something more. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Her expression had been one of warmth, caring and sincere affection. It made Juliet smile. She too had become very fond of Kate, if she were truthful, even before they entered the twilight zone. The young woman definitely had charisma. Sure she was pretty, oh who was she kidding, she was drop dead. There was more than that though. The young woman's direct no bullshit attitude made her much more mature than Juliet had been at that age. Of course having read Kate's file she knew all the reasons Kate had been made to be so mature earlier than usual. Those thought's darkened her mood instantly.  
When she thought about what that clever witty industrious young woman had been through she physically cringed.

She didn't know who she despised more. Kate's stepfather Wayne for what he did to that poor young girl or her mother who had stood by and let it happen. She suddenly thought 'despised' was an odd word to use for two people she had never even met. After considering that for a moment she came to the conclusion that despite them being total strangers to her, despised was an entirely accurate word. Not even because of what they did but because they did it to someone she loved-

That last thought brought with it a sudden case of mental whiplash, as she suddenly jerked up into a sitting position. WHAT NOW? Her brain screamed. Quickly her mind began listing rational explanations for that being the stupidest notion she had ever come up with. They had been through so much together. Kate had saved her life with her quick and decisive actions. They spent every waking moment with only one another for comfort in the frightening and confusing last almost four months, even some of their not waking moments. She thought back to this morning when she had woken up feeling so warm and safe in Kate's arms, how she had watched her for a long time before she noticed her distress and had woken her. How she had been considering how sweet and innocent she looked there curled up against Juliet.

Her mind was spinning with the implications of what she was contemplating. This was nuts. That kind of relationship with Kate was filled with limitless possibilities for disaster. They needed each other now more than you generally need anyone in real life and to risk that over lovey dovey romantic entanglements would just be stupid. Or would it? Taking a few deep breaths and shaking her head trying to calm her inner fruitcake, she told herself it was just a weird side effect of being so close to death and still not feeling herself. Even if it wasn't that it didn't matter anyway since she was sure Kate didn't think of her in that way. She silently laughed at how Kate had nearly leapt out of the bed when she woke up in the cozy cuddle with her. Clearly Kate wasn't even all that comfortable with innocent contact like that between friends. It's all for the best anyway, she thought, and stood up forcing a casual smile on her face and went to join her friend in the kitchen.

"Hey," Juliet said standing in the doorway. She tried to work her feet to move further into the room but seemed to be frozen in place.

"Hey," Kate smiled brightly, "How are you feeling?"

"I told you I'm fine." She laughed lightly at this strange new overprotective side of the brunette. "I am a medical doctor you know."

"You may be a doctor, but I'm the nurse apparently, and from what I picked up from the conversation after breakfast the nurse is in charge." Kate reasoned.

The other woman had to giggle at the way Kate stood there with her hands on her hips practically daring Juliet to challenge her on her post traumatic spider bite patient care plan.

"Oh yes ninety percent of the time the nurse is most definitely in charge." She conceded.

"Well I've never been one to fight the odds." Kate quipped.

"No, not you Kate." She barely managed to say with a straight face.

"Right then." Kate said picking up the tray she had just finished piling with two sandwiches, two bowls of tomato soup, sliced fresh mangoes and two soda's. "Turn around and get back in there so we can have some lunch."

Juliet smirked at her king of the mountain posturing but did obediently turn to head back to the couch. Once her back was turned Kate let out a small breath of relief at her acquiescence. She apparently hadn't noticed Kate was completely bluffing with the 'you'll never win this argument so you might as well give up' face. She didn't want the other woman overexerting herself after what her poor body had just been through, or for that matter exerting herself at all. Kate still wasn't entirely sure she trusted this apparent full recovery.

"Jeez, next you'll be trying to spoon feed me." Juliet mumbled sitting back down.

"Keep up the smart ass problem patient attitude and I just might." Kate threatened.

"Are you threatening me Miss Austen?" she asked quirking an eyebrow indignantly.

"You bet you ass." Kate said in a completely serious tone.

As they ate Juliet asked her about what she had spent the morning doing and Kate continued to pester her on whether or not she really was feeling alright.

"So anything else disappear while I slept? Tree's, buildings, the ocean?" Juliet inquired.

"Nope we're pretty much still just lacking the human beings." Kate meant it to be funny but when their eyes met they both recognized the strain showing there.

"Uhmm…did you have any request's for dinner?" Kate tried to change the subject awkwardly.

"Yeah, I was thinking you could call us in reservations for the ritz." She joked desperately wanting to see that worried expression that marred the petite younger woman's face gone.

"I was thinking the Hard Rock Café, but do you think we'll get in on such short notice," Kate kept up her end of the light hearted banter, knowing Juliet was trying to distract her from their precarious current surroundings, and loving her for it.

"Psha! You forget I'm a rich fancy doctor. Of course we'll get in." Juliet reassured in her best high and mighty tone.

"Of course, how silly of me." Kate forced a hollow sounding laugh.

Juliet saw her efforts to reassure circling the drain and changed tactics to realistic optimism. Placing her hand over Kate's she smiled warmly, "We're going to be alright you know."

"I know it's just sometimes it's hard to wrap my brain around, ya know." Kate sighed.

"I do, but look on the bright side you get to be stuck with your most favorite kidnapper in the world." Juliet tried again with the deflecting sarcasm.

"That is the only bright side." Kate said in a deadly serious tone. "There's no one else I'd rather be stuck with."

This caused Juliet to pause. "Not Jack?"

"Boring and judgmental." She said after a seconds contemplation.

"Hurley?" she continued.

Kate took the last bite of her sandwich and washed it down seeming to consider that, "No free medical plan."

"Sayid?" she suggested.

"Trained assassins make me nervous." She said thoughtfully.

They both began laughing hard at that last one, and finished their lunch discussing what they needed to focus on before the stormy season that was rapidly approaching arrived. Though both women had their own unspoken haunting concerns about all that was happening they both realized the truth in what Kate had observed. It was true that they were each happy to be here with each other rather than anyone else.


	6. Chapter 6

Kate was relieved that Juliet's recovery was complete with no notable lasting side effects, at least for the blonde. Kate, herself, continued to dream of the doctor and herself in rather 'compromising positions'. Sleeping in her own bed though, at least she didn't need to worry about molesting the other woman in her sleep, and to be honest, began to look forward to going to bed. The dreams were so vivid. She hadn't experienced such total recall of her sleeping mind's thoughts since she was little and had terrible nightmares about Wayne. Back then she had actually had a hard time distinguishing between what was a dream and what was real.

Of course these nightly visitations from her beautiful friend were in no way unpleasant, and all she could do was fight it. Fight it or embrace it. Allowing the dreams to come, left her in a rather relaxed state of mind. It was when she tried to force her thoughts away from the truth in her heart that these feelings became overwhelming. When she tried to pretend, even with herself, nothing of consequence was happening she almost always ended up with a stomach ache.

It was a little frustrating trying to be careful not to let on to Juliet how she felt. She was sure the other woman would be mortified to know that her brain was using her visage as fuel for her masturbatory fantasies, even if she was unconscious at the time. Once in a while she caught herself gazing at Juliet lost in thoughts she should most definitely not be entertaining.

There had been one close call when Juliet had come to check on her in the night. Shaking her awake from a particularly real image of Juliet pinning her up against the wall of the shower doing things to her she had only ever seen in rated NC-17 movies. Kate had lied and said it was a bad dream about the smoke monster that had made her scream. When Juliet offered to stay with her she was afraid she had been a little to vehement in her refusal, quickly explaining that Juliet shouldn't have to come to her rescue every time the boogey man invaded her subconscious.

Juliet began to worry about the younger woman. She could completely understand Kate's fears manifesting as night terrors. Forget about her hideous childhood but then being dropped into this hell where there was creepy Ben, strange polar bears, time travel, smoke monsters and now the rest of the real world pretty much disappearing. It was a wonder the brunette was keeping it together as well as she was.

The skies had begun to darken earlier than what was usual for this time of year. Juliet tried to tell herself everything else here was completely out of whack so why should the weather be any different. Kate had only been here for the tail end of the rainy season last year which had been mild to begin with. In Juliet's four years on the island she had seen some pretty awe inspiring displays of the power mother nature was capable of. But even in her time she had never seen the worst of it. Her co-workers had told her stories that at the time she had taken with a grain of salt. When the winds and rains had begun to pick up speed at an alarming rate she began to wonder if her neighbors were maybe not exaggerating. Not wanting to alarm the younger woman she had been intentionally nonchalant. Kate had enough on her mind.

She did a quick survey of the pantry one day while Kate was gathering what she could of the nuts and berries. Most of the fruit had blown down to the ground by now rotting quickly with the heat and moisture in the air. At least they had canning down now and thanks to Kate remembering a vague recipe for preserves from her grandmother they even had something resembling strawberry jam. What they had in the pantry (in reality a big shed filled with emergency supplies) Juliet had calculated was nearly enough nonperishable's to keep them alive for just about three quarters of the islands twisted version of winter. With what they had been able to gather on their own there really shouldn't be any problems. It did not stop Juliet from worrying though.

She wasn't quite sure when it had happened but she was now fully conscious of her need to look after the younger woman. She felt completely responsible for Kate's well being and took that responsibility very seriously. When the winds had picked up so much that when they were scrounging any last vestiges they could from the garden and Kate had been literally pushed off her feet, Juliet had decided it was enough. From now on they were homebodies, well at least her companion was. She sometimes waited until Kate was asleep and went to do a frenzied recount of their supplies or checked some last minute repair. Double checking was one thing, but when she caught herself doing it repeatedly she forced herself to chill out. At this point there was little she could do to improve their situation anyway beyond keeping up a positive attitude.

Of course she knew part of this being hyper vigilance had more to do with keeping her mind occupied with the practical rather than the fanciful. Katherine Austin had most definitely gotten under her skin. Sometimes she had to remind herself that these feelings were a one way street. They seemed to have such an easy interaction; nothing was ever complicated or misunderstood anymore.

Juliet found herself thinking of college. They had been the clichéd college roommates that had been drunk one night and let things go a bit too far. Unfortunately Juliet had been in love and Tamara had just been horny. This was never a good combination. She somehow managed to laugh the night off with Tamara as the rites of passage of silly college girls. She had never again let herself feel that way about another woman. The reality of getting her heart broken being a little too much for the occasionally oversensitive young woman to even fathom going through again.

Men were just easier. Although she hadn't even had much experience in the hetero relationship department, shortly after medical school her ex-husband had very nearly swept her off her feet. He was sophisticated, successful, and debonair. She simply blocked out the part where she wasn't really physically attracted to him. Racheal had thought he was slimy from the beginning, but when in the history of man did anyone ever take the wise advice of an older sibling. All too quickly after the enchanting wooing and big fancy wedding did Juliet realize the honeymoon was never even going to begin. Edmund, you see had not only gotten a trophy wife in the pretty young woman sense of the word but also got a successful intelligent partner. He was completely content. She however felt like she was drowning.

After she discovered his third affair she seemed to find her backbone and decided anything, including alone was better than this… trying to ignore the truth. There was no big drama. That was the saddest part, she told him she wanted a divorce and why, and he had graciously understood, not even attempting to talk her out of it or make any untrue promises of changing. It was shortly after that she had come to the island and truly learned the meaning of alone.

Until Kate. With Kate she felt like she was really with someone… for maybe the first time in her life. She couldn't let that be jeopardized by inconsequential little details like she was pretty sure she was falling in love with her. No, everything would be fine if she could just manage to keep up the status quo. There really wasn't much of a choice anyway. The younger woman was straight, Juliet had been pretty sure she had been in love with Jack before they had managed to get off the island.

When they came back though, there was definitely some strange unpleasant friction between Kate and Jack. Though she had never asked exactly what had happened, she knew Kate did not feel the same way as she had about the handsome doctor. She had actually begun to let herself believe there might be some kind of connection between the two of them. Kate had managed to kick that foolish theory straight in the gut the actual night before all of life had taken a strange and sudden u-turn onto the streets of crazyville.

When they had battened down all the hatches and seemed to be settling in for the long winters night Juliet found she had to try to keep her distance a little from the other woman. The last thing in the world she wanted was to make Kate uncomfortable. With little else to do they played board games, Kate often kicking her ass at chess but Juliet clearly the superior player when it came to scrabble. They had movies on beta but didn't want to waist the limited gas they had for the generator on frivolous things. As it turned out they might as well of used up the fuel when one night a few weeks into their self induced sequester inside the house the generator just _stopped_.

Kate was furious. She had made a personal project of reading the generator manual cover to cover. She had even studied the machine up close and personal trying to anticipate anything that could possibly go wrong. Unfortunately no matter what she tried she could not manage to get the thing to co-operate. Kate was embarrassed and ashamed that she was letting Juliet down like this and despite herself, found that she was moping. She of course noticed Juliet's attempt to cheer her up with little things like toasting dried mangos speared on the end of chopsticks over the flames of the fireplace, which was now their only source of heat. They had of course filled the basement with chopped dried timber and kindling with the space they had after food storage. There really was no emergency…a few baths with water heated over the fire instead of the convenience of a quick shower. Reading by candlelight strained their eyes , but beyond that, really no great hardship.

One night in the middle of a game of hearts the front picture window had blown out causing minor cuts, a minor flood, and major laughter.

Afraid the doctor might notice she was thinner than she usually was encased in the soaking wet clothes she went for the diversion, "Hey, who was in charge of windows anyway?" Kate asked giving her best furrowed brow after they had used duck tape, an eraser board and some plastic sheeting to block the window.

"That was so your department." Juliet grinned mopping up some of the flood that had overtaken their kitchen floor with a towel.

"Oh really, how ya figure?" Kate inquired good naturedly.

"You were in charge of the overall structure," Juliet said after a thoughtful moment.

"Huh?" Kate laughed disbelievingly.

"You did the reinforcements of the doors." Juliet submitted as rational testimony in the great mystery of who was responsible for the broken picture window.

"And you did the holes in the roof, also structural." Kate argued pointedly.

"So we fortified the roof and the doors but it never occurred to us that the plate glass might be a problem?" Juliet gave a full belly laugh.

"Yeah we're a couple of geniuses huh?" Kate continued their self mocking.

When they finished cleaning up the broken glass and water Kate moved into the living room to sit in front of the fire shivering lightly in her damp clothes. Forgetting for a moment that she was trying to conceal her figure she panicked when she was brought back to the here and now by the doctors concerned tone, "No, no, no…" Juliet grabbed her hand pulling her up to stand. "I swear sometimes you're like a small child." She laughed affectionately.

"What?" Kate asked indignantly, praying inwardly that the older woman hadn't noticed her ribs which showed prominently through the light blue shirt, if it got wet. Note to Self: lose the blue work shirt until summer, she thought annoyed with her own stupidity. She meant to wear baggy clothes until the rainy season was over and she had made certain Juliet had enough to eat.

Now, they usually made a big meal and ate that for the rest of the day for all their meals . This made it easy to look like she was eating her share. She didn't remember when Juliet's life became more important to her than even her own, but there seemed to be nothing she could think of that she wouldn't do for the beautiful older woman.

"You are going to catch pneumonia." Juliet said disapprovingly leading her upstairs and not letting go of Kate's hand until she reached her door.. "Dry clothes. Now."

Kate entered her own room as Juliet went on down the hall to hers. "Yes mother." She called after the blonde. She smiled at her own tone, feeling herself begin to regain her natural confident healthy sardonic attitude. It was good to be her, she mused smiling wider as she looked down at the hand Juliet had just been holding. She had to laugh at herself when she had the spontaneous thought she should never wash her left hand again.

"That's so funny…" Kate heard Juliet's voice echo down the hallway in response to the mom crack as the brunette went to her dresser and pulled out a pair of sweatpants, long sleeve jersey and sweatshirt to put on. Stripping out of her wet jeans and work shirt into the comfy outfit she was indeed much warmer but would never admit that to the other woman. The blonde did not need to be wasting her time taking care Kate, and she hated it when she got the sense that that was exactly what was happening.

When Juliet came back down to the fire she saw that Kate had beaten her to it and had built it up to roaring, making the living room almost comfortably warm. She also saw the bottle of wine and glasses Kate had brought out for them.

"Wine, huh?" asked the tall blonde.

"Just thought it might take the edge off." Kate smiled pouring them each a glass.

"Taking the edge off sounds good." Juliet smiled sitting down next to her on the floor in front of the fireplace. When Kate handed her the full wine glass she accepted it gratefully.

They were a couple of glasses into the rather large bottle when Juliet began giggling rather hysterically.

"Sorry," she paused to laugh some more, "I was just trying to picture someone telling me, I'd be sitting here with you like this at two o 'clock, six months ago. "

Kate smiled forlornly and nodded, "Yeah," she said a little sadly, "Why would you be caught dead hanging out with the trailer park trash unless I were literally the last person on earth."

Juliet froze as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water over her head when she saw the blindingly obvious pain in the brunette's expression. "No…I just meant-"

"I'm kinda tired," Kate said trying to sound casual, but Juliet could see she was feeling hurt. "Do you mind making sure the fire's out?"

The blaze was basically coals now anyway and Kate wasted no time in rushing past her companion to head upstairs, leaving a dumbstruck Juliet behind.

Juliet didn't seem to find her own voice until it was too late. She heard Kate's door close gently but intentionally loud enough for the taller woman to hear. She was utterly bewildered that Kate could be worried about their different classes in this unnatural almost…well yes supernatural universe they found themselves in. She wanted to rush upstairs into Kate's room and reassure her that there was nothing like that between them. What she did instead was have another glass of wine and head up to her own bedroom to fall into a fitful and lonely sleep.

That night she dreamt of Kate and woke up with a strangled cry of "I love you."

She had sat up straight in bed wondering why the beautiful younger woman's arms were not wrapped around her before she came back to reality. She felt strange…realizing all she wanted in the world was for Kate to hold her. She had to force herself back into a restless slumber.

Kate had done what she always did the next morning whenever anything got a little too _real_. She made breakfast and pretended the night before didn't happen. Juliet hated when Kate responded to any given situation that was at all emotional by needing to suddenly be somewhere else. Not necessarily even needing to leave physically. Kate was a master at being in one place and yet not really being mentally present there. Juliet didn't need to be a psychiatrist to figure out what had made the young petite woman such a master at this.

When she walked into the kitchen the next morning Kate was using the last of the fresh blueberries in pancakes. She didn't look up from her cooking to give Juliet that winning smile she often wore first thing in the morning before anything had a chance to go wrong. Instead she kept her eyes on what she was doing. She did not act like she hadn't seen the older woman she just couldn't seem to meet her gaze.

"Good morning," She managed to make it sound chipper even through the tension between them was palpable.

"Morning." Kate said sullenly.

"Pancakes?" she asked conversationally.

"The blueberries needed to be used." Kate explained simply.

"Blueberry pancakes, mmmmm…" Juliet smiled walking over to look over her shoulder at the mix Kate was now adding the blueberries to. She took a step back when she noticed Kate visibly stiffen at her close proximity. Giving up she mumbled that she would start the fire.

Kate had rigged a steel grill from a barbecue into the fire so they could cook over it easier. She had just gotten a respectable flame going when the younger woman walked in.

The silence was daunting as they cooked their breakfast and probably lunch in the fireplace. Kate tried to avoid her eyes as she knew Juliet was trying to catch her gaze. About halfway through eating her plate, Juliet frowned when she saw Kate pushing half of her already small portion back into the pan.

"Aren't you hungry?" she asked concerned.

"I ate half a bag of potato chips while I was cooking." Kate lied.

Juliet had noticed how little Kate ate before, but just chalked it up to her tiny little frame filling up more easily.

After a few more minutes of silence Juliet opened her mouth to speak. Strangely at the same moment Kate did the same, they each said the other's name in a quiet serious voice. Both of them laughed a little and they could feel the walls of tension around them slipping away.

"Kate," Juliet began after they both just sat there for another moment looking at one another. "I just meant…well-I helped kidnap you, I held you at gunpoint. That your still here with me, after all that, it's kind of strange."

Kate felt her own insecurities melt away at the deep etched frown lines around Juliet's mouth, her guilty eyes making Kate's heart ache.

"Why?" Kate's tiny little straightforward inquiry surprised even herself.

Juliet looked at the younger woman for a moment, thinking about her simple question, that came with an equally complex answer. She was about to say something lame about it being complicated and really didn't excuse her behavior anyway, when the name fell almost involuntarily from her lips. "Racheal."

She had been wondering who Racheal was for some time now, but had forced herself to respect Juliet's privacy. Kate now forced herself to remain as calm and passive as she could. She needed to be patient and give Juliet the time she needed to explain. She remembered when the blonde had been delirious with fever and seemed to think she was 'Racheal'. She had apologized to her then and Kate had been a little floored with the other woman's intensity and utter sincerity.

"She's my sister." Juliet forced the words off her tongue. It felt a little surreal talking about this with anyone. She had talked about her sister with Ben, but that had been different. That had been the man who held the keys to her invisible cage, making sure she knew that he had this incredible almost godlike power over life and death. Racheal's life anyway, and consequently, Julian's. She had never met the boy but felt a deep abiding love for the child that was almost primal. The image of him and his mother playing at the park on the fuzzy screen she had been allowed to view all too briefly was indelibly scorched into her subconscious. Having the power he did over the only two people in the world that meant anything to her-no everything to her-gave him carte blanche over Juliet, and they both knew it.

The range of emotions on the doctor's face was vast and clearly she was having difficulty in trying to arrange them in her own head. Kate met Juliet's eyes unflinchingly trying to convey to her that she was here for her, the other woman was not alone.

Juliet saw the sentiment in the younger woman's eye's as plainly as if she had spoken the words of reassurance aloud and smiled a small vulnerable smile at the encouragement. Taking a deep breath she bagan…

Explaining Racheal's terminal illness to Kate was hard. Telling her of how she had managed to come up with a treatment that helped Racheal get pregnant and then the seeming full remission made her smile. Everything had been so perfect, both of them completely happy at the prospect of welcoming a new Burke into the world.

Kate was a little amazed at the acutely deep love that the blonde had for her sister. Growing up the way she did she almost couldn't fathom being that close to a family member, except in the case of her grandmother. The brunette had not only loved the old woman but had actually liked her. The brash, no nonsense, ever practical woman had been the only role model she had ever had. She remembered when she was 11 and at the funeral. She had felt numb, almost broken, and as Juliet explained that Racheal was always only one missed miracle treatment away from being as dead as her grammy, her heart broke a little for the other woman.

"That son of a bitch!" Kate said angrily as she began to understand that at the touch of a button he could have Juliet's sister's secret cancer curing shot's stopped.

Juliet looked down at her hands which were twisting together anxiously in her lap. "I'm so sorry…" she said her voice high and edgy. "I know it doesn't excuse what I did-but I was just so scared, I…I- couldn't let anything happen to them." She sniffled trying to stifle a little sob, " I just couldn't."

Kate's eyes widened with the realization of Juliet's expectations of her being angry. She seemed to be waiting for Kate to let her have it…tell her that did not in any way pardon her crimes against Kate and her friends. Juliet's shoulders were hunched, shaking a little as she cried silently over what she had put so many people through because of her trusting stupid nature. The job offer from the charismatic Richard had intrigued her so much she hadn't really thought through the consequences of rushing headlong into a situation she really knew nothing about. She cried for all those women who had died because of her failure to help them. She cried for not being able to be there for the only person in the world who mattered to her at all when she needed her most. She cried for what she had put Kate through.

"Juliet," Kate spoke softly moving closer to the other woman and wrapping her in a warm reassuring hug. "It wasn't your fault."

Those simple words of forgiveness from the woman who seemed to have claimed ownership over her heart opened the floodgates of all of the powerful extremely confusing emotions she had been pushing down for nearly half a decade now. Kate held her close as she fell apart in her embrace. Gently stroking her hair as Juliet's face pressed into her neck desperately trying to get away from the world to some place safe, she whispered soft nonsensical reassurances and rocked her soothingly. God, she thought to herself, how she loved this amazing woman that was allowing her into such a private place inside her. She silently vowed to herself if she ever had occasion to ever meet Benjamin Linus again she wouldn't hesitate to make sure he suffered greatly for what he had done to Juliet.


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Experiment's (part, chapter, section? 7)

Scribbler:

Disclaimers: The Television Series Lost and its characters in no way, shape, or form belong to me.

Fandom and pairing is the show Lost's Kate and Juliet.

Rated: I'm guessing T for swearing.

Juliet was drained. The emotional release she felt in both her body and mind…It was closer to cathartic than she had ever experienced in her entire life . It was as if every fear, worry, and stress over the last four and a half years was something she had been able to lock up tight in a tiny little secret corner in her heart . A safe hiding place where no one could find it and use it against her.

She hadn't been able to share this part of herself with anyone. When she had attempted to do so with Goodwin, she had learned a hard lesson. She had lost him. Like everything else in her life that meant anything to her, Ben had taken him away. After that she had closed down to anything that didn't have anything to do with just staying alive, surviving.

Then there was Kate. Kate, who she quite literally could trust with her life, as had been made quite evident in there short time together. Another victim of Bengamin Linus and the Dharma Initiative. When she had fantasized about going home she often wondered where she would tell people she had been, people she had known before…_before_ _everything had changed._ Before she had quite literally discovered the world wasn't just round, it had layers and stratums she had never imagined possible. The things she had seen during her time on the island had truly thrown her own personal beliefs about reality for a serious loop. She knew things now that other people could not even begin to wrap their minds around. Normal people-Racheal…she wouldn't be able to talk about it with them. She knew with a great certainty that they would doubt her very sanity. She knew this painful truth because _before_, she would have felt the same way.

This other woman she was trapped alone with in a whole new aspect of the madness, had experienced the same phenomena. She knew it was real. The relief at being able to joke about the incontrovertibly bizarre situation with someone who believed her beyond any doubt, because she too had experienced it, was immensely refreshing. She forced herself to consider that maybe that in itself was the reason she felt the way she did about Kate. But she knew it wasn't just that.

She remembered the first time she had laid eyes on the other woman and thought her quite possibly the most beautiful person she had ever seen. At the time she had told herself, sure she was ecstatically pleasing, but so were a lot of the people around her. Of course it was more than that. She was attracted to the brash young brunette, clear and simple. The more time she spent with her the more she tried to avoid her. It seemed everything the young felon said touched her in some way. Either it cracked her up or it made her think, and sometimes it broke her heart a little.

When she had helped Kate and Sawyer escape she tried to force herself to believe that it was only her own best interest's she had in mind. Ben would free her in exchange for helping him convince Jack to do the life saving operation he so desperately needed. Jack wanted Kate and Sawyer safe. Pretty simple mathematics, right? But that wasn't all, not really. She had found herself becoming physically ill toward the end of the younger woman's incarceration. Watching her being forced into the crazy strenuous physical labor in order to weaken her, to make her break and tell Ben anything he needed know to make Jack cooperate. It made Juliet's head and belly feel all queasy. She wondered if she hadn't figured out a way to get the younger woman away from, 'the others', just because she couldn't seem to bare to see her suffer.

Her tears and body wracking sobs seemed to be dissipating, but she knew she owed her friend a great deal in allowing her to let it out. Just letting her feel what she so needed to feel for the first time in so long was such an overwhelming gift that she knew she could never repay. She was very reluctant to move away from the unbelievably wonderful comfort of just having the other woman's arms around her. "I'm sorry," the blonde mumbled forcing herself to pull away and sit back, "You shouldn't have to deal with listening to my lunacy." When she tried to shrug and laugh it off it came out as more of a choked up whimper. She quickly looked down at the floor again suddenly embarrassed by her pathetic little breakdown.

Kate cradled Juliet's downcast face in her hands tenderly tilting her face up to meet her gaze. "You have nothing to be sorry for." She said with such certainty. "I didn't know."

Kate watched the other woman's eyes as they met her own. She couldn't believe the sheer gratitude and relief she saw there. Juliet had been alone in this nightmare for so long. Kate knew that this island could certainly screw with your mental well being . Then she tried to imagine it without Jack, Sawyer, Claire, Sun and Rose to talk to. She really had a hard time imagining going through it without…help?

"No one did. No one could. I couldn't risk telling anyone else." Her mouth became a small sad little smile.

Kate brushed away a few errant tears rolling down the blonde's cheeks gently with the slightly callused pad of her thumb. She could feel the moisture on her own face and ignored it. She had to be there for Juliet now, she could go freak out over her own incredibly emotional reaction to the doctor's story later. Right now Juliet needed her and she wanted so badly to be able to help her.

"But you told me." Kate smiled reassuringly.

Juliet returned her smile with her own simply happy content one. "Yup, maybe we should put some more thought into your _calling._ I'm thinking shrink might also have been a good career choice for you."

Kate snorted a little with a self deprecating attitude. "I sucked in psychology class."

"That wouldn't have anything to do with your own refusal to deal with any of your own personal issues would it?" She asked with a hint of a smirk.

"Issues? Me? What issues?" Kate joked just happy to see the other woman smiling again. She needed her to smile. It was like a craving, not something she had control over, somehow it was something she just needed.

"Right," Juliet laughed, "No. We might be in trouble if we had issues while we're stuck here without therapy. Such a good thing neither of us have any bones of contention to deal with. That could be awkward."

Kate giggled, "Yeah thank god we're in such good shape with the whole mental health thing."

Kate looked into Juliet's eyes like they somehow held the answers to all the questions in the universe. She felt her own smile falter as she suddenly felt like she was drowning in those deep pools of blue. She would gladly let herself drown there if only she was allowed to stay. Then she was all too aware that she couldn't stop herself from glancing down at those full soft lips in front of her. She tried to force her breath into a deep regular rhythm but felt like she was grasping for something-anything she could hold onto not to get lost in Juliet .

Then it just happened, Kate felt herself leaning forward into Juliet's personal space, almost as if she had no control over her own actions. She pressed her lips to Juliet's with a soft gasp. Everything seemed to stop there. All she could feel was the petal soft skin of the other woman's mouth under her own. It only made her want more. She needed to be closer to the other woman. She felt she couldn't get enough of her. Then harsh reality reared its ugly head.

"Kate?" The blonde spoke in a startled tone, pulling away a little shocked by the brunette kissing her.

It was then that Kate realized her world was about to implode. God! What had she done? She snapped her own head back in shock. "Oh shit!" she cursed as the full realization of what had just happened creeped in on her. "I-"

Juliet saw Kate's panicked expression and wanted nothing more than to reassure her. She wanted to tell her it was ok. It was what she wanted too, but it was too late. The younger woman seemed to leap up to her feet before she could even catch her breath. "Jesus, I'm sorry Juliet." She cried and suddenly ran for the nearest exit.

Juliet was once again left sitting there with a dumbstruck expression, unable to keep up with the other woman who flew straight out the front door. It only took her another moment of shock before she realized what had happened and that Kate had run blindly out into the storm. Juliet was on her feet before she even realized it chasing after the other woman. "Wait!" she called after her, of course her loud demand was in vain, as Juliet realized the other woman was already way out of earshot.

By the time she made it outside Kate was gone. She looked left and right, down the regular path's they used. With the almost sheet like rain she couldn't even see five feet in front of her face let alone find her trail. Taking a deep breath she rushed back into the front hallway to grab a jacket and one of the backpacks they kept packed there for emergencies before she rushed out into the storm after Kate.

Kate was running fast. It was like someone had hit the autopilot switch and her head had emptied of all thought. She just knew she had to get away. On some level she knew she was running towards their old camp at the beach. She had no idea why though, since there was nothing there anymore.

It happened quite suddenly. One moment her body was cooperating and she was quickly being carried away from yet another awkward strange predicament she had idiotically gotten herself into. Then she was falling. Her feet lost their purchase on the ground underneath them. She felt her ankle turn at an odd angle, a sharp pain on her chest and then her head came into contact with a firm surface, hard. She didn't think anything then, lying halfway down the steep ravine unconscious.

Five hours later, mercifully, the rain had slowed to a trickle. She still couldn't see the sun through the dark clouds but no longer had to stare directly at the ground in front of her to prevent herself from falling on her ass. Juliet had run around the jungle completely aimlessly for a long time before she forced herself to stop and think. She remembered the last time Kate had disappeared on her. She had gone to the beach. Backtracking almost all the way to the house she found the trail that led to the old campsite.

She was still trying to go slow looking around desperately for any sign of her lost friend, when she noticed the big smear in the dirt. It went down the side of the almost cliff and she stopped cold. Looking down to the bottom of the ravine she immediately had two thoughts. There was a deep stream there. If Kate had fallen she could be under all that rushing water. No, she forced her brain away from the horrifying image of the young woman who meant everything to her floating dead in the swirling water.

Closing her eyes she forced the gloomy thought's from her mind and began to look around. Then she saw her. She was about a third of the way down the hill to the stream and she wasn't moving. At first Juliet felt like she couldn't breathe looking at Kate's unmoving form. She winced staring at her. She was so still. It was impossible to see from here if she was breathing. Then she was tightening the backpack straps around her shoulders and sitting down on her bum at the precipice of the ravine.

She made her way down the slope painfully slowly. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," she mumbled when she herself almost lost her grip and began to slide down. When she finally reached the other woman she was once again holding her own breath as she reached out to touch her neck and found a strong pulse there. She laughed aloud when she saw Kate's eyes crack open a little.

"Kate!"

"S'ry," Kate slurred "fell."

"I can see that" Juliet's grin at Kate at least appearing to be ok nearly split her face in half. "I'm here now, I'm gonna get you out of here."

"So sorry," Kate said seriously, "Didn't mean to…"

Juliet's eyes widened with fear as she saw Kate's own begin to roll back a liitle.

"Hey, it's ok Kate. Everything's ok now. Just try to stay with me alright?" she pleaded quickly noting the deep gash through her shirt and left breast, and the egg shaped bruise on her noggin.

"Re-ly tired though."

"Yeah well you can sleep when you're dead." Juliet said firmly, incredibly grateful for the fact that she wasn't dead. Glancing down she felt a shiver overtake her entire body at the thought of what might have happened if Kate hadn't been caught by the slight outcropping on the slope.

Grabbing her under her arms she started the slow and daunting task of dragging the other woman up to the path. She was a little surprised at how light the other woman was and when her shirt got pulled up she gasped out loud. Kate was so thin. Then she remembered Kate hadn't seemed to be eating that much. They had actually joked that she was the best person to be trapped in this situation with because she was easy to fill up.

God, she thought, immediately understanding what the brunette had been doing. "You haven't been eating!"

"I'm kay," Kate argued weakly.

"No. You're not!" Juliet found herself becoming as angry as she was touched by Kate's sacrifice.

"Jesus Christ, Katherine Austin, what were you thinking." She said as she managed to pull them both over the edge onto solid ground again.

"I just wanted to make sure there was enough." She murmured before crying out sharply in agony when her ankle hit a rock.

"What? What is it?" Juliet inquired in a panic.

"Ankle." Kate breathed through the pain.

"Let me see." Juliet skittered around the other woman trying to wipe the water out of her eyes to get a better look at Kate's foot.

"Owww!" Kate screeched as she picked it up to try and remove her shoe.

"Ok, Ok." Juliet soothed replacing her foot on the ground gently. She looked around frantically for a moment before she came to the conclusion that there was only one way to go here. She looked at the other woman who was now breathing heavily in pain and barely clinging to consciousness. "Here's what we're gonna do Kate."

Kate's eyes began to close.

"Hey are you with me Kate?" she yelled moving up to grab her chin and point her half shut eyes in her direction.

"Mmmm…"

"Ok then, I'm gonna half to carry you, alright?" She said squatting next to the smaller woman.

"You-huh?" Kate laughed a little deliriously as Juliet pulled her up into a sitting position.

"You laugh but I could bench press you in my sleep." She only half joked as she tucked her shoulder into the other woman's stomach and struggled to get her into the fireman carry position.

"ove u," Kate's voice was back to a slur and then she was out.

Juliet froze for a moment halfway to standing up with Kate over her shoulder when the other woman's words registered in her head. Then she stood up straight and with a determined lurch began walking back up the path. Kate really was light even covered in mud and soaking wet. Juliet smiled as she walked on and said softly to herself. " I love you too."


	8. Chapter 8

Title:experiments part 8

Pairing:Kate/Juliet

Fandom:LOST

Disclaimers: LOST, Kate, and Juliet are so not mine…sadly

Summary: The start of the good stuff.

Scribbler's Notes: Sorry this took so long, but yeah with the long though, right? If anyone else except for the nice lady who has been commenting is reading this please say so. (insecure writer needs encouragement!)

Kate was only vaguely aware of the fact that she was no longer lying outside in the rain, but instead was resting in a nice soft bed, safe and warm. Her mind was now struggling with becoming fully conscious once again, but she wasn't quite there yet.

"Kate?" She heard a sound that reminded her of her name shouted through a tunnel, it was distant and muted. Everything seemed to hurt, but the pulsating dull ache between her eyes was the worst.

Juliet felt as if someone had just switched on her oxygen. She was actually still shaking. It was pitch black now and they had been back for nearly eight hours. She had washed the majority of the mud of her friend, wrapped her ankle, put a bandage on the gash across her chest, and applied a cold towel that she continuously recycled to the bump on her sweating brow. Kate had started making soft mewling sounds in her sleep a little while ago and was actually squirming around a little now, however fitfully.

"Whassat-?" She groaned without opening her eyes.

" Hey… Kate, can you hear me?" She felt a gentle hand cupping her cheek and managed to open her eyes a little, squinting against the dim light of the oil lamp on the bedside table. "Wha appened?" she asked and though Juliet understood her, it sounded like one word.

"You're an idiot." Juliet smiled down at her from where she was perched on the edge of the bed next to the other woman tenderly stroking her face.

"Yeah," she took a deep tight breath closing her eyes again. "But what happened?"

She snorted softly, but it actually came out more as a groan of relief, at the other woman's casual self deprecating response, "I brought you home." The blonde explained simply, knowing for the first time in the last thirteen hours that her friend (?) was going to be ok.

"Home huh?" Kate asked and started to laugh, but found it made her chest ache a little."Ow." Then she lifted her head thinking for a brief ridiculous moment of actually trying to sit up.

Juliet moved her other hand to place firmly on Kate's shoulder, effectively pinning the exhausted woman to the mattress. "Be still." She said, and though her tone was concerned, the expression in her eyes told her it was definitely an order. It kind of reminded her of when she was little and the pediatrician told her not to move before he administered her boosters, the doctor face, compassionate but strict.

The brunette took a deep breath and stopped trying to overexert herself by doing silly things like laughing, a little thing that suddenly seemed like a huge daunting undertaking. "Yes mom." She mumbled.

"You know I would hit you right now, if you weren't injured." Juliet said only half joking.

"I'm injured?" She looked puzzled for a moment like she was trying to decipher some difficult algebra problem, "Good then that would explain the pain, so not crazy huh?"

"Well that's debatable." She felt Juliet's hand drift down her arm, never losing the skin on skin contact, to squeeze her own. "What hurts?" Her tone and eyes were filled with worry and Kate found herself looking down at their intertwined fingers a little surprised.

"My head," Kate thought to move her hand up and show her exactly where it hurt, but found she couldn't bring herself to let go of Juliet's hand. When the blond leaned down to kiss the bruise on her forehead, her eyes widened considerably.

"Better?" The blonde asked sweetly.

"Mmmmhmmm," Kate stared at her suddenly little nervous.

"Where else?" She inquired.

"Ah," Kate searched her eyes for something that would tell her that she was not imagining the vibe she was getting from the other woman. "My ankle,"

Smiling Juliet turned around, without releasing her hand, and bent to kiss the ace bandage she had wrapped around the younger woman's ankle, which was elevated on a pile of pillows. Kate's face was just about glowing when Juliet straightened up and turned back around to meet her eyes. "Anywhere else Kate?"

The sultry teasing look on Juliet's face floored Kate. Was she doing what she thought she was doing? Unable to resist, she looked directly into the doctor's eyes and lied, "I think I might have bumped my lips too…"

"Poor baby," Juliet murmured softly bowing her head ever so slowly, giving the brunette plenty of time to change her mind and take it back.

Of course that was never going to happen, Kate thought happily as she felt the other woman's lips pressed firmly against her own. The brunette suddenly found the process of breathing to be a very complicated concept. Closing her eyes with a sigh she returned the chaste kiss that was definitely not a _friendly _peck. She shivered when the blonde's lips closed around her upper lip squeezing it with just the briefest slightest pressure. Then Kate felt the other woman's lips ghost across her cheek. Her warm breath on her neck caused her stomach to do somersaults. "You know, if you had maybe given me five seconds or something to react instead of running away, I probably would have kissed you back." She scolded gently, her lips close to her ear, causing Kate to almost imperceptibly flinch.

She felt Juliet's smile against her neck, as she let her head rest there for a moment, on her shoulder.

"Noted," Kate smiled a little shyly and was actually now visibly trembling as Juliet leaned back up to look her in the eyes with an amused smirk that seemed to be able to look into her very soul. "Freaking out and running off into a hurricane bad then?"

"Very bad," Juliet said her face turning serious. "You scared the shit out of me Kate, you could have died." Juliet's voice cracked a little, suddenly becoming very low and anxious.

Kate heard the slight hitch in her companion's voice and consequently felt like a total asshole. "I'm sorry."

"You should be." She said, not willing or maybe even able to let her off the hook.

"How did you get me back here?" She asked blushing, a look of confusion clearly etched on her face.

"I carried you stupid." Juliet glared at her angrily, at the same time gently caressing the back of her hand with her thumb.

"Really?" Kate swallowed hard.

"Really." Juliet said, her voice seemed to be warring with itself, between distress and fury. "It wasn't that difficult Kate. It seems you've lost a considerable amount of weight."

Kate felt terrible, a twisted knot of tension in her stomach growing to add to her other pains, when she saw the look of betrayal in the older woman's eyes. "I just…"

"You just what?" Juliet lashed out and knew she was being harsh but couldn't seem to stop herself. Upon seeing the real hurt in Kate's eyes though, she closed her own eyes and took a deep calming breath, forcing herself to temper her tone into more of a plea than an accusation. "I thought we decided we were in this together, Austin?"

"We are, but…"

"No. No buts. Now I'm going to go downstairs and make you something to eat. Then I'm apparently going to have to watch you eat it, because I'm not sure if I can trust you to take care of yourself." Her eyes were filling with moisture, "Understood?"

Kate nodded silently. When Juliet tried to release her hand though she squeezed it hard not willing to let go yet,"I really am sorry." She reached up to brush the single tear on Juliet's cheek away.

"I know." She said trying with a little success to remove the edge from her voice.

They gazed at one another for long moment sizing each other's responses up. "Thank you for coming after me, Juliet."

Feeling like she was about to lose control she counted to five in her head and tried to smile, "Of course sweetheart, I will always come for you," She said pulling the brunette's hand up to kiss her palm, watching carefully to make sure Kate could see the absolute truth in her words, before standing up and leaving Kate alone with only her guilty conscience for company.

Juliet just made it to the front door. Quickly and quietly she stepped outside to the front porch where she took several deep gulping breaths in an attempt to hold back the tears she hadn't allowed herself throughout the long traumatic day. She just needed a moment where the other woman couldn't hear her crying as she tried to get a grip on her emotions under the cover of the high eerily screaming winds. She had already fallen apart on her once today…that was what had started this whole thing. Now, she saw, just how much she needed to be there for the younger woman. She knew of Kate's propensity for fleeing from difficult emotional situations. While she had been aware of that she realized now she might not have really understood the full extent of exactly how damaged the younger woman really was. Of course knowing her background, this was completely understandable. She had been stupid to think that Kate was not the big giant mess inside that she was only now beginning to fully comprehend.

At this moment knowing the younger woman was back with her and basically alright, she decided to allow herself to fall apart a little. She _truly_ did not want Kate to feel bad, that was actually the last thing in the world she wanted. She just wanted her to know, needed her to know that her life was just as important as her own. She didn't want her taking unnecessary risks when it came to her own well being, and she certainly didn't want her starving herself to make sure there was enough for the Juliet to eat.

That Kate had thought that was an acceptable risk in the first place was perhaps what scared her more than anything. She wasn't quite sure if it was the apparent lack of regard she had for her own life or how much Juliet's seemed to mean to her.

She sat down on the wet floorboards of the front porch and lowered her head to her arms that she wrapped around her knees. She remembered that time not so very long ago, she had been literally in the same spot and position, utterly terrified at the idea that Kate was gone, and wasn't coming back. She also recalled being astounded and overwhelmed with a palpable sense of actually being granted a stay of execution when she felt Kate's reassuring hand on her shoulder. Now sitting here once again she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the younger woman had saved her sanity by coming back… as well as her life.

She wondered at the wisdom of what they might be letting themselves in for, with the prospect of changing the nature of their relationship. Truthfully, she had been terrified when Kate had kissed her. She had wondered if Kate somehow had picked up on her own feelings, and was just feeling sorry for the older woman after she went to pieces in the other woman's arms. Astonished, she wasn't afraid that Kate was messing with her, as she would have suspected before they were forced to live together in this strange new world completely dependent on one another. But while she had been searching for her through the jungle she had thought to nip this silliness in the bud. She assumed Kate could not even fathom the feeling she was experiencing for her. Then she had heard the words. The slurred but plain declaration that made her heart sing. "ove u". And she wanted so much to believe it, because try as she might to make it go away, she knew she felt the same .

While there were a great many factors and risks involved in this whole new level of intimacy they both seemed to want to undertake, it seemed like it was kind of too late to turn back now, even if they wanted to. She laughed a little amused when that overdramatic phrase you read in cheesy romance novels popped into her head, but maybe…_ this was stronger than the both of them._

Ok Burke, she scolded herself, get a grip. Kate was upstairs literally starving. Kate, her Kate, and then her face was nearly split in half with a giddy silly smile. She got up wiping her eyes and brushing of her dingy damp pants to go make her something to eat.

Kate sat up in the bed the second she couldn't hear the other woman anymore. She listened carefully and obeying her first instinct jumped up to follow her to make sure she was alright. Those were real tears clouding the other woman's eyes. Tears she was responsible for. Of course the moment she tried to stand up she immediately fell back down her ankle screaming at her. She covered her mouth muting the sound of her own cry of agony. Shit! What had she done to herself?

Falling back to the bed on her ass she whimpered weakly under her breath not wanting to alarm the other woman. Laughing at the picture she must have painted there in her underwear, a tank top, ace bandage and a rather large piece of gauze affixed to her-?

She looked down to her chest, for the first time noticing that there was a wound there. A rather large bandage was taped from the top of her left breast nearly reaching to her nipple. She found herself regretting having slept through that process, and then blushed wanting to kick herself for the sleazy thought. Then she examined the rest of herself, feeling herself flush further when she took note of her state of dress and the lack of mud covering her skin that was now an interesting variety of purple and greenish blue bruises with some deep angry red scratches and gashes to complete the look. Shit Austin! Shit, shit, shit! She thought angrily. She knew she had lost weight but Juliet was right she might have taken it a bit too far, she thought taking in her almost skeletal appearance.

What she had done in an attempt to protect Juliet now left her weak and useless to the other woman. Fuck, why did she always have to be such a moron? Why did she always have to screw everything up so monumentally? Did poor Juliet have any idea what she was getting herself into with her? Yeah, she took a deep thoughtful breath, she had allowed the blonde to get closer to the real her than she had probably ever let anyone before in her life. So she was indeed aware of the complete and utter mess that made up Katherine Austin. The fact that she still wanted anything to do with her sorry ass was a little baffling to the younger woman.

But it shouldn't be, not really…she was after all pretty much the only other person on the planet as far as they were concerned. However, Juliet had been a successful doctor back in the real world. She found herself wondering if she would have even deigned to speak to her there. Where she was a fugitive, always on the run, usually not even planning far enough ahead to know where her next meal was coming from. Probably not very likely, she mused sadly. Juliet had been a real person, with a real life. She had an ex-husband, friends, and a sister. She probably had all kinds of family waiting for her, worrying for her. Not like Kate who had more people who actually cared about her here, in all of this madness that was the island, than back in reality. Of course in the real world those people who were her friends here also had real lives and probably wouldn't have had anything to do with her there either.

This was usually when she let herself get swallowed up in her depression and insecurities, where she withdrew from anyone who might try to get close to her. She stared at the oil lamp on the nightstand which cast the only light in the room and marveled at the thoughts she was having presently , maybe for the first time ever. She found herself pondering not trying to outrun her life this time, of maybe trying to take some time and figure stuff out instead of her normal flight or fight instinct that up until now had been her basic life philosophy.

Was she honestly ready for this? She knew she had to be sure. She couldn't permit herself to hurt Juliet. She could never ever let that to happen. The fact that it was that _cautious_ idea foremost in her mind made her think that this was different, entirely impossibly different than any of her previous life experiences. But she had to be absolutely certain, without a single reservation.

Then she was smiling because she _was_ sure, positive that this _was_ what she wanted and secure in the knowledge that the other woman felt the same way. At least she felt the same while this bizarre place they were trapped in lasted, and she strangely found herself longing for it to remain unchanged forever, not being able to think of a single thing she needed or even wanted as much as Juliet. If something did happen and they couldn't stay here alone together, Juliet could, and probably would change her mind. If that happened Kate would just have to understand. But for the time being, she would be grateful for what she could get. For now she just wanted to live in the moment. Enjoying every one of them that she was lucky enough to spend with the kindest, gentlest, sweetest, unquestionably -most considerate, decent, smart, funny, generous, loving, brave, determined, optimistic, insightful, intuitive, genius of a goddess that was Juliet Burke. She giggled thinking that sounded an awful lot like certainty, and that she could truthfully get used to and maybe even begin to enjoy certainty, something she had not experienced a lot of during her entire nearly thirty years on the planet.

"What's so funny," Juliet entered carrying a tray, frowning at finding Kate sitting up on the edge of the bed, but on the inside tickled by the sound of her light airy laugh.

"Nothing…" Kate smiled but her face was a little pinker than it had been before and the elated facial expression warmed Juliet's heart.

"What are you doing?" She asked raising an eyebrow accusatorily.

"Nothing…?" Kate asked confused.

"Did I tell you, you could sit up?" She asked placing the tray on the dresser and picking up a plate and a tall glass to bring over and place on the nightstand.

"Uhm…what now?" she asked a little taken aback, her eyebrows crawling up her forehead uneasily. "I have to get your permission to sit up now?"

"Yup." She said straight faced turning back to the other woman to look at the tray and leaving her back to a flabbergasted younger woman. She grinned as she filled the syringe with Demerol. Then fixing her face back to passive, she turned back to the other woman holding up the needle dramatically. The look on Kate's face broke down her resolve quickly and she broke into an amused smirk. "Kate, your body has been through a tremendous trauma, a shock." She explained patiently.

"Yeah… to say nothing of my psyche." She mumbled indignantly.

"Cute." Juliet smirked back. "But it's your body I'm in charge of."

"Yeah?" Kate gave her a lopsided grin that oozed lechery.

"I'm your doctor, so yes." She said bemused.

"Alright then, so no unauthorized adjustment of reclining position without prior permission?" She eyed the tired looking other woman.

"Exactly," She said approaching the bed. "Now lie down and roll over."

Kate's eyes seemed to focus on the needle for the first time and Juliet watched her brows knit together a with skepticism. "What's with the harpoon?"

"It's Demerol." She explained patiently, stopping in front of her, "It's for the pain, and it'll help you sleep."

"The pains not really that big a deal." She shook her head a little too enthusiastically as if to stress her point. "And hey, didn't I just get a really long nap in?"

"Kate, you were unconscious." Juliet explained slowly as if she were talking to a rather dim small child.

"Sleeping-unconscious, sounds like semantics to me." Kate shrugged.

Juliet smiled and put the needle down on the table next to the food. She sat down next to Kate smiling reassuringly. "How did I know you were going to be a baby about this?"

"I'm not," she said indignantly, "I just don't think I need a-ah…"

"Injection?" Juliet asked smirking knowingly.

"Well, I just mean, wouldn't pills be easier?" She reasoned.

"Sorry, the pharmacy was low on tablets." She smiled sympathetically reaching out to squeeze the brunette's knee. "It's ok to be scared…"

Juliet smiled inwardly at the stiffening of Kate's posture. "I didn't say I was scared!" She objected vehemently to the doctor's assessment of the situation.

"Good then lie down and roll over." She grinned proudly at how she knew exactly how to handle her favorite patient.

"Fine then." Kate grumbled and did as she was told, whining a little when she bumped her ankle, that in fact really was throbbing painfully. "You probably just wanna check out my ass."

Juliet laughed loudly, "God you are such an ego maniac."

"How ya figure?" Kate peered back up at her over her shoulder, a challenging look in her eyes.

"I've never had a patient accuse me of inappropriately medicating them in order to get a glance at their bum." She explained trying to seem affronted but unable to help herself from glancing down to examine said ass.

"Ahhh… but you never had a patient with an ass as great as mine." Kate gloated noticing Juliet's suddenly looking a little distracted as she stared at her rear end.

Juliet laughed shaking her head partly to clear it but mostly at Kate's conceited words. As she reached for the needle she mused aloud, "What if I did just want to look at your cute little bottom?"

Kate's smile grew and she blushed wearing a hopeful expression. "We could skip the piercing of my flesh and go straight to the ogling?"

"Sorry sweetie, just close your eyes and trust me, Ok?" She slapped her firmly on the butt.

"Hey," Kate complained sharply, but folded her arms to bury her face in them to hide her smile. She usually thought cutesy pet names were stupid but with Juliet…

"I'm Just getting the blood flowing." She lied, letting her hand linger for a bit longer than was strictly appropriate, before she pulled the alcohol swab from her pocket and tore it open. "This is gonna feel a little cold, ok." She said pulling the waistband down on her panties to reveal a thinner than normal but still breathtaking butt cheek. Swabbing the area she kept up the distracting chatter. "I could probably do this one handed if you need me to hold your hand." She mused.

"What?" Kate jerked her head back around with an exaggerated glare.

"We used to have contests in my general practitioner's residency." She explained.

"You will use both hands." She declared huffily, "And you will be super careful."

Juliet smiled and reached out to caress the cheek once again holding Kate's eyes. "Don't worry, I know when I'm handling precious cargo." She winked.

Kate blushed brightly and lowered her face to her arms after a moment, embarrassed at how turned on she was getting by Juliet's easy touch.

Juliet also felt herself growing a little aroused by their flirting and forced her focus back to the task at hand.

"Owwww!" Kate cried loudly.

"Shhh, just a second, don't move." She soothed as she carefully but quickly depressed the plunger.

Kate was whimpering softly.

"There we go, all done." She said rubbing the area tenderly for a moment to get the medicine moving. "Now that wasn't so bad now was it?"

"Yes." Kate insisted, clearly pouting, although the blonde couldn't see her face.

"Maybe if I kissed it better. .." She let her sentence drift off suggestively.

Kate's breath caught in her throat, "Maybe if you did…"

Juliet leaned down moistening her lips and placing her lips delicately around the puncture mark.

Kate shuddered when she felt the other woman's warm wet tongue dart out for a quick risqué taste.

"Better?" Juliet rested her cheek against the cheek of Kate's bottom.

"Much," Kate purred suddenly very relaxed. "Wow. As a matter of fact, that's awesomely super really a lot better. You must have a magical mouth."

Juliet laughed loudly sitting back up, "Or really good drugs."

"Or both," she smiled affectionately back over her shoulder. "Permission to sit up and eat ordered or is it prescribed dinner?" she asked suddenly feeling contemplative, "Or is it still breakfast? Lunch? Maybe brunch?" she laughed at her own streaming train of thought. "Doctor Burke… or maybe honey."

Juliet's laughter grew even louder as she reached down to take Kate by the elbow helping her to rearrange herself back up into a comfortable sitting position gently placing her foot back up on a single pillow. "Permission granted." She said grabbing a couple more pillows and tucking them behind the beautiful younger woman who was now obviously feeling no pain. "And It's definitely still breakfast for you babycakes." She sat back down close to the other woman's hip and reached for the tall glass of thick liquid in a strange auburn hue. "And I would vote for honey." She added shyly.

"Thank you honey," she grinned enthusiastically wrapping her hand around Juliet's tightly for a moment before taking the glass and lowering their grasped hands to her own lap. When she caught a whiff of the drink as she brought it up to her lips she crinkled her nose with distaste. "What is it?"

"It's a high protein, high calorie vitamin supplement." Juliet explained cheerfully.

"It doesn't smell good." She complained.

"It isn't good baby," She explained patiently, reaching up to touch Kate's cheek when the other woman reddened a little at the endearment.

"I like that," Kate turned her head a little averting her eyes bashfully.

Juliet caressed down her face slowly to take the brunette's chin carefully in her hand and turned her eyes back to meet hers. She smiled and spoke confidently wanting Kate to be comfortable. "Great because I like calling you that."

"Really?" Kate smiled shyly.

"Oh Yes." She nodded enthusiastically, "Now baby?"

"Yes?" Kate was getting lost in her eyes and then found her gaze traveling down her gentle features to those full red lips, watching her mouth speak in a low sensual tone.

"Bottoms up." She smirked.

Kate's eyes shot back up her face to regretfully note the doctor's eyes and tone were back. "You're a jerk,"

"That's Dr. Jerk to you." She corrected.

"What happened to honey?" Kate sulked.

"You should probably come to terms with the fact that your honey reserves the right to morph into Dr. Jerk at will." Juliet grinned, her voice a bit sardonic.

"Sooo…You're my honey, huh?" She observed grinning goofily.

"And you're adorable." She beamed, "Now quit stalling."

"What makes you think I'm stalling." She asked innocently.

"Because Miss Katherine Austin, I've met you." Juliet clarified.

"Very funny…" she responded dryly and with one last apprehensive glower at the drink took a big swallow. "Oh my god," she stuck her tongue out and made spitting noises, "That's nasty, no not nasty-way worse than nasty-that's just wrong." She continued to make gagging sounds and Juliet shook her head bemused. "Ick! Uck! Ack!"

"Oh my goodness, a really tall toddler," She muttered sarcastically, "Just what I always wanted."

Kate gave her a fiercely defiant stare and knew she was being handled, like with the injection, but surprisingly found she really didn't mind. Tipping the glass back she chugged it as quickly as possible until it was all gone."There happy?" she gasped breathlessly.

"That's my good little girl." The blonde teased taking the glass back and patting her knee patronizingly.

Kate merely narrowed her eyes at the taller woman.

"Oh my god Kate," Juliet said suddenly feeling the skin beneath her hand. "You're freezing."

"Nah," She drawled nonchalantly. "I'm toasty or wait… _am_ I cold?" She contemplated as if deep in thought, "It's ok if I am though. I's is feeling good." Her smile was silly and lopsided.

"No it's not ok." Juliet said practically leaping up to move quickly to her closet. She hurried to grab one of her own long sleeve jerseys and an oversized sweatshirt. Returning she quickly and efficiently began dressing her. "You can't get a chill now Kate, your body's natural immunities are already lowered."

"Ya know you're going about this all wrong," Kate lectured inordinately pleaded with her own insight.

"What do you mean?" She asked pushing Kate's arms gently into the second layer of the sweatshirt.

"As I understand it you're supposed to be trying to get me out of my clothes, not trying to cover me up." She mocked running tongue across her lips seductively.

"You're high Kate." She informed her derisively.

"You're pretty Juliet," she answered in a matter of fact voice.

"Uh-huh" Juliet said in a deadpan disapproving tone, although the disciplinarian attitude did not even remotely reach her eyes.

"Oh yeah, I remember now, Demerol is your friend!" She smiled blissfully as if just remembering something very important.

"Right." Juliet answered looking at the other woman a bit concerned.

"What?" She arched a single eyebrow teasingly, "No Pants?"

"I don't want to aggravate your sprained ankle." She told the other woman.

"My ankle doesn't hurt." She said perplexed.

"Not right now it doesn't," She reached out to brace Kate's arms and began to help her up, "Come on, sweetie, stand up for a second."

"Okey Dokey." She said agreeably allowing herself to be pulled to her feet and then pretending to stumble a little and falling into Juliet's arms, which instinctively wrapped around her and easily caught her lithe slender form. "Oopsey."

Kate wrapped her arms around Juliet's waist and pulled her close pressing her own apple sized breasts tightly just underneath the taller woman's fuller ones. "Uuumm, you feel good." She breathed pressing her face up into Juliet's neck, inhaling her enticing scent deeply. She actually felt Juliet's heartbeat against her own upper chest despite all the layers of material between them and smiled when she felt the beautiful older woman tremble a little. "You smell really good too."

Juliet felt her lower belly was turning molten as her gorgeous girlfriend's lips, tongue and hot breath worked at the pulse in her throat that was now beginning to race. Wait…_girlfriend_? "Ohh, Kate." She murmured almost involuntarily tilting her head to the side to give Kate better access.

"Mmmm…" Kate moaned against her throat beginning to nip playfully at the supple flesh she found there.

"Christ Kate," Juliet fought for control taking the other woman by the shoulders, to push her slightly away, "We have to stop."

"Why-come?" Kate asked adorably smiling up at Juliet, her eyes filled with need and not just a little mischief. Then she was leaning up further to take her lips firmly with her own. The kiss was demanding, hungry, and Juliet felt almost powerless against it as she opened her mouth to admit Kate's questing tongue. From the second their tongues caressed one another Juliet knew she had found what she had been looking for, for most of her adult life.

"Ahhh…" someone moaned but neither one of them could be sure which one of them it was.

Juliet twined her fingers in Kate's hair tilting her head at the angle she needed to deepen their kiss. Kate responded eagerly grabbing a handful of Juliet's own hair, her other hand moving in slow reassuring circles across her lower back. They had both been waiting so long for this moment. Kate suckled on Juliet's tongue and she felt the blonde shiver violently in response. All that existed for either one of them in this moment was the other. For now they found themselves completely content with this arrangement.


	9. Chapter 9

Title: experiments part 9

Scribbler:

Fandom: LOST

Pairing: Kate/Juliet

Disclaimers: I am not the great and powerful OZ…cause if I were I would so have created the wonderful character's I'm borrowing from the aforementioned amazing show LOST. I'd have worked with or ya know at least met the two beautiful actresses who play them and could pretty much die happy…

Spoilers: I think there might be, but I really can't be more specific than that.

Scribbler's notes: To Miss GaGa-noted and thanks to the people who took the time to tell me they were actually enjoying reading this hopefully as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

Kate felt as if she was losing herself in the other woman, this gorgeous creature she had wanted to be close to for so long. She was finally being allowed to touch her so openly and Juliet was returning her caresses so tenderly, the lovely blonde was turning her on like she had never been before. She couldn't ever remember being this excited in her entire life. God, she wanted Juliet. She wanted to make love to this incredible and sexy as all get out woman. She could still feel the dull aches and pains from her fall when she moved the wrong way or pressed too hard on a bruise or cut, but they seemed to be somewhere way in the back of her mind and were effortlessly ignored over the other far more pleasant sensations she was currently experiencing.

Juliet whimpered against the dark haired beauty's mouth. She was on fire, literally feverish with passion that was threatening to subvert her very sanity. The way Kate fit so neatly… almost perfectly into her arms made her wonder what the hell she had been thinking in the past when she had considered any previous lover's touch even remotely pleasurable. This was heaven. Then she thought to herself, wouldn't it be it be exquisite if this _was_ what heaven was really like. With her free hand, the one not twined in Kate's thick silky curls, she brushed the downy hairs on the back of Kate's neck gingerly. She overpowered the younger woman's tongue with her own, forcefully pushing it in to explore the warm moist cavern of her mouth, running it over her teeth and gums, tongue and the roof of her mouth. She wanted to taste Kate-every part of her.

Kate's answered the other woman's searching tongue with her own as they swirled and danced together in a sensual mutual tangling caress. She groaned weakly at the light tickling feeling on the back of her neck where she felt Juliet's fingertips with their feather light teasing, stroke her nape lovingly.

The nagging voice of her conscience that she had already barely been able to block out so far came knocking on the inside of her skull loudly when she heard the vulnerable sound Kate made into her mouth.

Damn it! She had to stop this-right now! This wasn't right. This couldn't happen like this. She couldn't let it…Bringing her hands around to Kate's front she managed to squeeze them between their bodies that were pushed so snugly against one another. Kate's tongue was playfully running along the inside of her upper lip and she felt an electric shock shoot straight down her spine to her center where she could feel hot liquid already pooling when the brunette bit her lower lip growling possessively. Finally getting a grip on her shoulders using every ounce of willpower she could muster she gently nudged them a few inches apart. Her eyes still closed she desperately tried to get a handle on her heavy breathing. "Jesus…" she murmured opening her eyes to meet Kate's, that were by now heavily lidded with intense lust.

"Yeah," Kate agreed closing her eyes again and lunging for the blonde's mouth again eager to resume their nearly overwhelmingly ardent kiss.

Juliet stopped her by jerking the younger woman's head back by her hair. "No," She cried in frantic exasperation.

"Wha-?" Kate mumbled inarticulately fighting to get back to those wonderful and indeed magical lips, she needed so desperately to feel against her own once more.

Juliet quickly reached up to take Kate's face firmly between her hands holding her steady so their lips were less than an inch away from where they both presently wanted them so badly to be. Looking deeply into the younger woman's eyes she tried to put in to some kind of order her completely discombobulated thoughts. Fighting the frenzy of hormones that were currently screaming at her that she had lost her mind with the idea of stopping this-this- the most aroused feeling she had ever experienced in her life to date.

"Kate, please don't." She pleaded feebly.

Kate caught the older woman's begging tone and froze, searching her face for some kind of illumination into why they would possibly not want to continue with this all encompassing almost primal urge to explore each other intimately. "Why?" She asked growing worried. She had felt so certain that Juliet wanted this as much as she did…but what if she was wrong? Then she felt sick at the possibility that she was attempting to force herself on the stunning blonde who had done nothing but be kind to her. "Oh god, I thought…I-I- I thought you wanted-"

Seeing the alarmed spooked expression in Kate's eyes, almost identical to the one from this morning right before she had run away, Juliet felt like someone had punched her in the stomach, like there was an enormous weight on her shoulders, pressure not to let this happen again. She knew she had to act fast, to explain to and reassure Kate that the frightened young woman had done nothing wrong.

"I'm so sorry! I thought-…Shit I'm such an idiot." Kate tried to pull away humiliated and ashamed of what she suddenly perceived she had just been doing. Juliet had just risked her own life to save her and what did she do to reciprocate? She wanted to curl up and die. She was worse than useless, she was a burden to every one who every tried to be there for her, attempted to care for her. She had just been so caught up in her own want, her own desires, that she hadn't even given a second thought to the fact that Juliet might have already changed her mind or worse-had never even seriously considered them together as a realistic option to begin with. God, you're disgusting! She berated herself hatefully turning her head no longer able to meet Juliet's eyes. She wished the older woman had left her for dead. Juliet would be much better off alone, without the added responsibility of Kate's stupidity and greedy selfishness.

Juliet's mind suddenly flashed on when she had been lifting Kate up and heard her inarticulate and slurred declaration of love. Then she had told Kate of her own feelings, but Kate was already unconscious by then…this whole time, since the other woman had regained consciousness, she had known how she felt, how Kate felt, but Kate was still left out in the dark without even a lifeline to grasp on to. They had been flirting shamelessly for the last little while…but as far as Kate knew that's all it was. The guilt she saw in Kate's red face made her heart feel as if was being torn in two. "I didn't mean to-I'll go-I won't bother you any-"Kate stuttered, already visualizing finding a nice cold cave to stay in for the winter, where she couldn't hurt anyone, where she couldn't hurt Juliet.

"God baby no!" Juliet gasped. "I didn't mean-"

"I know!" Kate said her voice high and edgy and her face showed such a bitter countenance of utter misery. "I'm such an idiot. All you were doing was trying to take care of me and I was…" She sputtered off '_trying to take advantage of you-' _ she finished in her head, "and I'm just-I'm so sorry!"

Juliet saw the tortured tears streaming down the brunette's cheeks and urgently wanted- no needed to clear things up. "Kate! Look at me." She said roughly, carefully turning her face back to her own. "I didn't mean I didn't want to- I do! I want you so bad it hurts." She finally declared.

Kate's mind was reeling as if it were in a cyclone, twisting and turning with no real solid direction to go in. "I don't understand," She sniveled pathetically closing her eyes tightly still unable to meet Juliet's.

"Kate, I love you." Juliet words were so soft spoken but Kate had no trouble hearing the utter confidence and conviction they held.

"No, you don't have to say that. It's Ok.. Please don't lie to me to try to make me feel better. You shouldn't have to do that for-" The trembling smaller woman kept her eyes squeezed fiercely shut.

"No Kate, please listen to me! You are all I think about. You're all I want." She stated her voice filled with raw emotion. Kate was sobbing now, trying to wiggle out of Juliet's embrace. "I _am madly in love with you._"

Even knowing Kate was not physically capable of getting away this time Juliet pulled her firmly back into her arms, cradling her head against her shoulder, unwilling to let her even consider trying. "Kate, god, I'm so sorry, I thought you knew- What I mean is…I'm the idiot. When I said I loved you-well I forgot-"

"What?" Kate gasped pulling away just enough to look into the older woman's eyes looking for some kind of explanation or trick. Could Juliet really still be screwing with her head? No. Juliet's own face had tears streaking her pale complexion. What the fuck was going on? "What are you talking about?"

"When you said you loved me and I told you I loved you too…" Juliet began to try to explain.

"When I did what?" She exclaimed the shock and frustration in her voice so devastating it made her entire body shake almost convulsively.

"When I was picking you up to carry you home…you said you loved me," Juliet explained in the gentlest voice she could find, "I told you I loved you too and I forgot…"

Kate shook her head as if trying to get the words now steadily flowing from Juliet's mouth to make some kind of sense. "But I don't…"

Juliet smiled warmly stroking Kate's cheek. She was completely overcome with adoration for this mind blowing remarkable young creature that so clearly without a doubt had taken ownership of her heart. "When I got you back up to the path you were delirious, you told me you loved me," She clarified slowly, wanting to be certain Kate fully understood the extent of what she was trying to explain. "I was putting you over my shoulders when I said I loved you too, but you were probably already unconscious."

Kate sniffled, gruffly bringing her hand's up to aggressively wipe away the snot and tears that were covering her face, in what she was sure was a totally gross unattractive mess. "You love me?" She inquired anxiously, her voice little more than a whisper, as she tried to regain a little control over herself.

Juliet nodded enthusiastically smiling at the younger woman hopefully. "I do, God, so much." She stated without hesitation her head then shaking a little in actual wonder for how much she meant what she was saying.

Kate was still overwrought and Juliet could see the wheels clearly spinning in her head, her chest rising and falling erratically, trying to catch her breath from the intensely emotional scene they had just both barely made it through.

Quickly she surmised the strain… the weight and pressure of her final statement must be putting on the younger, defenseless looking woman and needed to make her see that this was nothing she needed to feel burdened with-to worry about. Kate was already in a weakened physical and emotional state and she didn't need to be bothered with the extra dilemma of being concerned with Juliet's feelings. "I understand." Juliet hastily began wanting to make things clear, to take all of the troubles clouding Kate's eyes away, so she could finally rest. She just looked so completely and utterly exposed. "If you need to think about it, it's alright…you were delirious…I'll be Ok if you didn't mean to say…"

"I love you Juliet Burke." Kate met her eyes evenly trying to grin although it came out a little broken and crooked.

Juliet laughed softly. She pulled her back into a strong hug, putting her lips against Kate's ear whispering gratefully, "Good." She smiled kissing her lightly there, "That's really, really good."

Overwhelmed with such an all encompassing sense of relief and complete joy, Kate once again became aware of the hazy euphoric place the strong prescription pain medication was putting her head in."Hey, honey," she began.

"Hmmm?" Juliet hummed contentedly.

"You're gonna wanna watch it with the kissing of the extremely erogenous zone that is my ear. Ya know if you're still gonna stick with the ridiculous idea of all that silliness with the 'we shouldn't', 'we can't', and 'please stop.'" Kate breathed deeply, only half kidding.

Juliet started laughing hysterically, trembling a little with her own bout of relief at the return of Kate's sardonic wit. She remained there for another long moment pressed against the other woman, unwilling or unable to relinquish her hold on her quite yet. "You're amazing, you know that right?"

"Hmphh." Kate muttered offhandedly, "It's been said." Then she pulled back to meet Juliet's eyes , a little of the insecurity returning, "But if I'm so amazing why did you want to stop? Why didn't you ah- want to-to be with me?" She asked in a small scared voice.

"Kate, you've just been through so much, your hurt and you're inebriated." She explained, "It would be like I was taking advantage of you…"

Did Juliet know she had been worried about making that same terrible mistake mere moments before? Kate rapidly went through her past sexual partners in her mind, and she couldn't think of a single one that might have given a second thought to the fact that she maybe wasn't completely with it. Especially considering the way she had been throwing herself at Juliet. It wasn't that they were creepy or ya know- bad people, well at least they weren't all bad anyway. It was just the way things worked; well she had thought it was the way things worked. She had mixed feelings about what Juliet had just said to her.

Juliet could see Kate's mind trying to process her finishing sentiment. She kept her eyes locked on the brunettes, curious. What would Kate have to say about her wanting to wait? Would she, too, be relieved with easing up on the alarmingly swift pace their unfettered desires seemed to be moving them along at? Would she think Juliet was an old fuddy duddy that couldn't handle her younger, would be lover's appetites? Would she be angry or maybe frustrated, would she laugh at Juliet's old fashioned attitude, or would she…?"

Kate's response not only threw Juliet, but herself as well. "Wow," she said softly feeling Juliet's hands sliding comfortingly down over her shoulders, pausing to give them a supportive squeeze, before letting them follow the length of her arms down all the way until she could take Kate's hands in her own. "You _love _me."

Juliet's heart was swelling at the simple yet eloquent response of the astounding young woman before her. _Kate understood_. She knew that Juliet only wanted what was best for the both of them. The way she answered Juliet, with such awe at the notion of someone truly loving her, someone being more concerned about Kate than them self, tugged at the blonde's heartstrings. She could hardly even begin to comprehend that another person, who was actually permitted to get this near to what she viewed as the epitome of perfection, could ever be capable of not recognizing the respect and reverence this love called for. Juliet knew though, she knew Kate Austin was a gift to be treasured. She was so grateful for the opportunity to do just that and would never let herself forget it.

Kate suddenly found the doctor's eye's examining her more thoroughly. They were definitely the doctor's eyes again. She smiled patiently, "You're about to suggest something very unromantic and physician like aren't you."

Juliet's caught unawares face, smiled meekly. She paused for a moment and brought Kate's hands up one at a time to kiss each one of their palms lovingly, before clutching them to her breast. "Well no." She smiled impishly, "If you give it some thought it is highly romantic."

"Uh-huh," Kate smirked skeptically. "I'm sure it is."

"Do you think you can stand up on your own for a minute?" She asked looking carefully into her eyes with real concern.

"Juliet, if you didn't recognize me falling into your arms as an intentional ploy to be all over you and ah-whatnot, I'm gonna hafta worry about your level of gullibility. I'll have to make sure nobody else tries to take advantage of my girl's sweet nature." She teased delighting at Juliet's deep blush.

"Shut up," And Juliet's face was red as she began actually thinking for the first time of how easily Kate had lost her balance and glanced nervously a little to the side, "You did not."

Kate nodded smiling like that cat that swallowed the canary. "God, you really are naïve aren't you." Her voice was filled with wonder and she let go of Juliet's hands, easily standing on her own. Carefully holding on to the 'know it all expression' she was currently sporting, she reached up with one hand to stroke from Juliet's forehead down around her cheek to under her chin so she could gently lift it and their eyes would meet again. She examined Juliet with wonder that anyone could ever be that trusting. "I love you."

Juliet met her eyes trying to look annoyed with the clear accusation of her being an inexperienced sucker, but the last bit that Kate said completely distracted her from any other thoughts beyond her own depth of love for the younger woman. "You're cute," She managed to pull off with a little bit of sarcasm. She stepped around her and pulled the covers down untucking the bottom on right side where Kate would be lying and stood back up. Gallantly she took hold of the injured woman's arm to ease her back down onto the bed. After getting her situated in the sitting up position she had her in before, she removed the pillows from in back of her and scooted in behind the younger woman to take their place in supporting the brunette's smaller frame. She pulled on the tired looking young woman to make Kate lean back against her chest, before reaching around her to pull the cover's carefully up over her body without disturbing her ankle and leaving it uncovered and once again resting on a couple of cushions.

""Ummm…this is romantic." Kate purred turning her head so her cheek was pillowed on one of Juliet's breast's in such a way that she could look up into the bluest eyes she had ever seen.

"I'm happy you think so, now time to eat," she informed the younger woman.

"Really," Kate yawned, "I'm kind of full from the shake from hell."

"Kate," Juliet said her voice fairly threatening as she lifted the platter and balanced it on her new girlfriends lap with one hand. "I know you're not going to argue with me."

Kate looked up into the deeply concerned as well as dominant eyes and shook her head a little. "Of course not honey."

Juliet smirking picked up a cracker with cheese and placing it to her love's lips quietly said. "I'm so glad we understand each other."

That night Kate let Juliet feed her some cheese and crackers and for desert their leftover blueberry pancakes with extra artificially flavored maple syrup.

"My face is all sticky." Kate laughed when she was full, really full for the first time in quite a while.

"You,re precious with a sticky face." Juliet leaned down to lick the side of her mouth for a taste.

"Unless I'm allowed to lick you, cut it out." She said and was so tired that it came out less of a challenge and more of a warning. She could now seriously feel the sedative affect of the Demerol, and though she fought it found herself snuggling her sticky face into Juliet's sweatshirt and closing her eyes.

Juliet smiled down at her, equally exhausted, but unable to stop looking at the startling innocence and beauty of the young woman lying in her arms. She stayed like that for a long time until Kate's breathing became even and relaxed.

Carefully she crawled out from behind her putting a big fluffy pillow under her head and then seeing her begin to stir a bit sat down beside her stroking her hair and caressing her face reassuringly until she was sure she was back in a deep sleep. She hurried to the rest room where they kept a sealed barrel of wash water and ladled some out into a basin. Wetting a facecloth she carefully cleaned Kate's face and neck of the residue of tears, crumbs, and syrup. She was just finishing when the younger woman stirred a little.

Half opening her eyes Kate saw the blurry image of a loving angelic Juliet. She gave a small smile and tiny groans of happiness at it not all having been a dream. "Did you just was my face?" she mumbled amused.

Juliet met her amused gaze defensively. "Well I can't let my baby go to bed all dirty can I?"

Kate's eyes suddenly got a nervous look to them. "You're not leaving me are you?"

Juliet laughed a little leaning down to kiss her forehead tenderly, "Of course not silly. I'll never leave you."

Kate closed her eyes a little uncomfortably, "I don't mean in general." She opened them again meeting the blonde's gaze a little embarrassed. "I mean will you stay with me now? Here? Tonight?"

Juliet smiled down at her overwhelmed with affection for the other woman. "Just a second baby," she hurried into the bathroom and splashed water on her own face quickly rinsing her mouth and then rushing back in to see Kate looking up at her anxiously.

She walked around removing her sweatshirt and sweatpants leaving her in just underwear and a t-shirt, and began to crawl into the bed. "You are so beautiful." Kate breathed studying the other woman's body with an innocently appreciative eye.

Once she was under the covers lying on her side her head propped up on her elbow. "You're the beautiful one Kate." She simply stated.

Then she moved closer to Kate pulling her arm around her own shoulders as she rested her head on her chest. She wanted to enfold Kate in her arms, holding her close as long as they both breathed. Kate had to stay on her back though so she didn't strain her ankle, forcing Juliet to settle for gently laying one arm across her waist to rest her hand lovingly on her hip.

That night as they gently drifted off into a more relaxed and peaceful sleep than either had experienced in a very long time, there was someone else there with them. Someone outside staring at the house with an almost unearthly malevolence directed at them both especially the younger woman. He would see her dead he vowed to himself bitterly.

.


	10. Chapter 10

Title: experiments part 10

Scribbler:

Fandom: LOST

Pairing: Kate/Juliet

Spoilers: Yes probably, but I couldn't be more specific as I don't remember the exact order of the storyline on the TV show.

Warnings: Can't imagine someone reading this without understanding it's all about the lesbians but I've seen other people do this so-FEMSLASH! (be warned)

Scribblers Notes: Sorry this took so long to write and for the fact that it is so long. This should have probably been at least two chapters, if not three, but I couldn't find a comfortable place to say to be continued.

Scribbler's Notes: On a personal note I would like to thank my wonderful neighbors and friends Holly and Micheal, for their support with listening to the wacky lesbian next door grumble of the frustrations of fanfiction, their actual input (yes holly bosom only has one s) and their ever ready cup of coffee.

It was hard to keep a good eye on the two women ever since the weather had turned. They had hung heavy blankets over most of the windows for added insulation since the generator kicked the bucket. He had to admit that was unforeseen. When he had disabled their source of power he had thought to make their circumstances more difficult, make things harder, hoping it would drive another wedge between them. He couldn't believe it when they only seemed to grow closer…more dependent on each other.

He had been watching their cozy little cohabitation with growing unease and irritation for weeks now. The curtain they had over the large picture window in the parlor with the fireplace in it was an almost sheer pale sheet that allowed the little bit of sunlight they still got in and also still allowed him to view the two of them pretty clearly if the rain wasn't too heavy at just the right time in the afternoon. They didn't have the upstairs windows covered since they were mostly just sleeping up there, under the covers and warm without the added measure of insulation.

Due to that fact and the rain easing up he had a wonderful view of the two women clinging to each other, kissing with wanton abandon. It had been hard to watch. He knew she didn't want this, not his sweet innocent Sarah. She couldn't. He was so tempted to burst into the house and drag that crazy bitch off of his beautiful wife, but stopped when Sarah clearly came to her senses and ended the kiss holding the other woman away from her. That was his girl, he felt vindicated in his certainty that she would stop this madness. Who the hell did the younger woman think she was acting in such a familiar and wholly unnatural way with a married woman? Of course Sarah would have told her why they were here…to find him. She obviously recognized her mistake in leaving him so long ago and had come back to rectify the situation. Why she had brought the other one had puzzled him at first, he had eventually rationalized it as she was afraid to come back here alone, in case she couldn't find him right away.

While he longed to go to her, to reunite with the only woman he had ever loved, he couldn't let her off that easy. She had really hurt him when she had left and she had to understand just how much if they were to ever truly reconcile, be together again the way they were meant to be. When the lamp went out he stayed for another moment wishing with all his heart that things had worked out differently. He had seen the kiss in the parlor in front of the fire and the shocked look on Sarah's face before the brunette took off into the storm. He had been torn between following her and staying to make sure his girl was alright.

When he had followed Kate, rationalizing that Sarah was safe and he really did need to keep an eye on the other woman; he had been elated when he saw her fall. This would eliminate all their problems. He had considered going down to make sure she was dead, but the rains were still coming down hard and the slope she had come to rest on was slippery and steep. It was too dangerous-he couldn't leave Sarah here alone without him to take care of her. No, it was too dangerous. Sarah needed him.

He had been looking for the blonde for a long time when he caught sight of her carrying the injured woman back to the house. He had been furious with Sarah's carelessness in risking her life to save the troublesome other woman. But seeing how immobile the brunette was he figured she wouldn't make it anyway. Of course that idea had been all shot to hell when he saw them through the bedroom window. It was still Ok though; his wife had clearly set her straight and gone down the hall to her own room. He was curious as to why he didn't see any candles lit in the other bedroom, but chalked it up to Sarah being exhausted and just falling into bed to sleep, where he was confident she was dreaming of him and when they could finally be together again.

Now, tightening the lapels of his threadbare coat he took a deep weary breath and turned to make his way back home.

Juliet was drawn from her already restless slumber by the unpleasant sensation of an elbow digging into her ribs. "Ooof," she murmured, taking hold of Kate's wrist to lift her arm as she pulled away a little to give the other woman more room. She wasn't kidding when she said she was a tosser and turner in her sleep. This was the third time she had been woken up with one of the brunette's errant limbs poking her body painfully. Yawning silently she took note of the hazy light that made its way through the bedroom windows and the steady harsh sound of the rain pounding down outside.

Yawning silently she sat up and looked down at Kate who was still deeply asleep. She sat there for a few minutes just staring at the younger woman with intense relief and happiness that she was going to be ok and was here with her to stay. Then frowning a little at the large bump on her forehead that had turned an interesting shade of green during the night, she felt herself change from concerned significant other to doctor. Taking her wrist gently in her hand she was reassured by the brunette's steady, if a little sluggish pulse, the sedative being the cause for it being a little slow. She peered at the bruise for a moment, satisfied that it hadn't swelled anymore. Then she turned and moved down the bed to re-elevate her ankle which had moved off the pillows during the night. Satisfied that she would be alright she turned back to watch her peaceful face for another moment, before unable to help herself she reached up to lightly brush her cool cheek.

It _was_ cold in here she thought as she crawled out of bed as carefully as possible not wanting to jar Kate from the rest she so desperately needed. She grabbed some clean clothes and slipped silently into the bathroom to get dressed. She washed up quickly with the freezing water from the tap and slipped into a pair of cargo pants and pulled her favorite blue sweater over a t-shirt. Finally brushing her hair and teeth she looked in the mirror critically examining her image. She liked the way the sweater brought out her eyes and then smirked at her own image in the mirror. Was she really standing here primping?

She grabbed Kate's toothbrush from the back of the sink. They shared the bathroom that was sandwiched between the two bedrooms. Filling a cup with fresh water she quietly left that and the toothbrush and toothpaste on the nightstand, taking the empty dishes and syringe back over to place them on the tray. She turned back to pull the blanket that had fallen down a little tucking it snugly back up around her shoulders. She leaned down lower to place a soft kiss on her cheek.

"mmm" Kate murmured stirring a little.

"Shhh.."Juliet whispered pulling back relieved that Kate hadn't woken up.

She grabbed the tray and headed downstairs. After she built a medium sized fire she left a pot on the grill with chicken soup warming in it. She made her another nutritional shake and left it up on the counter to go back up and check on Kate.

When she found her still asleep she made her way into the other bedroom. Getting right to work she quickly stripped the other bed and wrestled the mattress off the box spring and frame. It wasn't that hard dragging it down the hall and stairs. The challenging part was doing it very quietly as not to disturb the younger woman. After that the box spring, which was much lighter if a little more awkward, was a piece of cake. She hastily moved the coffee table and armchair out of the living room, then shoved the couch and end tables into a corner to make space to lay the bed down in the middle of the room, far enough from the fire to be safe but close enough to keep them warm at night. They had already been talking about moving down to be near their only source of heat as the winter grew colder, but with Kate's accident she had to make sure she didn't catch a cold now that she would be bedridden for a while. The guest bathroom downstairs didn't have a tub, but it would do until Kate was able to get up on her feet again.

After she made up the bed with clean linens she ladled out a mug of steaming soup putting it on the tray she had already cleaned off next to the fresh vitamin shake and box of crackers. She was sure Kate would be ravenous but still wanted to take it easy on her much shrunken stomach. She carefully lifted the tray making her way up the stairs where she found Kate sitting up in bed spitting toothpaste into the wastebasket next to the bed.

"Hey," Kate smiled taking a big swallow of water and wiping her mouth with her sleeve, her grin turned mischievous. "Oh, sorry, I assumed I was allowed to sit up to brush my teeth, ya know considering you left the toothbrush and whatnot."

"You are such a smartass." Juliet chided replacing the tray on the dresser.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Kate smiled sweetly.

Juliet approached the bed with the tall glass of _'worse than nasty'_ , suddenly not feeling so bad for Kate having to drink it. "I brought your breakfast." She returned her smile, with an equal level of saccharin.

"Oh no," Kate shook her head, her face filled with dread. "No. No. No. Come on, that isn't really necessary, is it?"

" 'fraid so sweetie," she tried to appear sympathetic as she sat down next to her on the edge of the bed, but couldn't quite wipe the grin off her face. She leaned in to give Kate a peck on the lips, and then handed her the glass.

Kate narrowed her eyes at the other woman suspiciously, "You're enjoying this."

Juliet tried to look offended. "Of course not." But the slight smirk that remained plastered to her face gave her away.

"Is this cause of the smartass remark about the sitting up?" She asked accusingly.

"Kate I already had the shake when you said that." She explained patiently, "This," she gestured toward the drink, "is because you were an idiot and starved yourself."

"Hey, I know you haven't been back to the real world in a while but thin is in," She gave her best winning smile to accompany what she knew was a really lame argument.

"Drink." Juliet instructed sternly.

"You wouldn't have made such a bad nurse either," Kate grumbled bringing the glass up to her lips, careful not to breathe through her nose, deciding it wouldn't be so bad if she didn't have to smell it. Downing it as quickly as possible she quickly learned that it still tasted as bad as she remembered even without the odor. Gasping, at the vile flavor left in her mouth she thrust the glass back into Juliet's hand and grabbed the water chugging it to rinse the foul taste it left in her mouth.

"Oh come on Kate, it isn't that bad." She sighed in exasperation.

Kate glanced into the bottom of the glass at the last sip and then back up at the other woman. "Try it."

"What?" She asked confused.

"Take a sip." She crossed her arms across her chest and looked at Juliet expectantly. "I mean if it's not so bad, no big deal right?"

"Very mature," She said sarcastically shaking her head in wonder at the other woman's childish challenge, before shrugging, "But if it will make you feel better."

Juliet tossed the last sip back and felt her taste buds revolt at the bitter thick liquid coating her tongue. It really was gross, she thought to herself.

Kate saw her eyeing the water and lifted her eyebrow knowingly. "Care for a drink of water."

Juliet swallowed hard and smiled placidly shaking her head.

Kate herself took a long drink of the cool refreshing water swallowing languidly.

Juliet grimaced and grabbed the cup, "Fine, Ok, whatever," She took a drink swishing it around to rinse her mouth, "So it's terrible."

Kate laughed triumphantly. "I'm just saying." She said cockily.

"Kate you need it to build your strength back up." She explained kindly, "I'm sorry. Just a couple more doses and you should be feeling better."

"What if I'm already feeling better?" She asked looking down as she placed her hand on Juliet's knee slowly running it up the top of her thigh.

Juliet closed her eyes inhaling sharply, still surprised by how much a light casual touch from Kate affected her. She wanted to let this happen, she wanted so much to just give in to the touch she had been _craving _for what seemed like forever, falling back into the bed with the stunning younger woman.

Instead she reached out to grab her hand just as it began to slip around to the inside of her upper thigh, "But you're not Kate, you're injured and you're still weak."

Kate pulled her hand up to her mouth and kissed the back of it. She knew Juliet was right. She really didn't feel too great now that the Demerol had worn off. "Ok, but I had to try right?" She winked at her gratified when she saw Juliet's cheeks had a little extra color to them.

"God you're beautiful." Juliet said her voice filled with something close to wonder.

"Yeah? Even all scrawny like this?" asked Kate a little embarrassed by the depth of feeling she saw in the other woman's eyes.

"Yup, even scrawny." She laughed forcing herself to stand up and let go of Kate's hand.

She came back with the mug, now sporting a spoon, and the box of crackers. She put it down on the nightstand. "Now," she straightened up, "I want you to finish this every drop, every crumb."

"Where are you going?" Kate asked actually a little disappointed that Juliet wasn't going to stay and supervise her eating this time.

"I'm going to heat you up some water, you stink, you need a bath," Juliet wrinkled her nose to stress her point. Really she just needed to get away from the other woman, lest her willpower slip and she give into her baser instincts, which right now were screaming at her to shove Kate down on the bed and do all sorts of dirty naughty things to the woman who's mere glance seemed to turn her knee's to rubber.

"Yeah well you're not exactly a fragrant flower yourself," Kate scoffed, but she noticed the look in Juliet's eyes and understood.

"Well, yes, that happens when heroes get all sweaty and muddy rescuing their defenseless damsels in distress." She teased.

"The who with the what and the who again?" She asked disjointedly, in an indignant tone.

"You heard me." Juliet beamed proudly.

"Defenseless! Damsel! In Distress!" she sneered hotly.

"Hey if the shoe fits," She defended placing the glass on the tray and lifting it from the dresser turning her head to glance back over her shoulder.

"I'll show you who's weak." Kate tensed to stand.

"Uh, uh, uh." Juliet shook her head. Then smiling confidently she began to walk out of the room. "If you re-injure that ankle who knows how long it will be till your _feeling better…."_ She managed to make her tone both threatening and sexy at the same time.

Kate relaxed back to the bed with a heavy sigh, she knew when she was beat. She ate her breakfast as ordered as Juliet made several trips over the next forty minutes filling the tub with boiling water.

Juliet was thinking they had to come up with a better system for taking a hot bath. After finally filling the tub with the sixth two gallon bucket, usually they settled for three or four, but Juliet wanted her to be able to relax and soak. Standing over the tub stretching her aching back she jumped a little when she felt Kate's hand on her lower back.

"You _are_ my hero." She leaned up whispering against the taller woman's neck. Juliet laughed softly turning to see Kate leaning heavily on the cane she had found in one of the other houses that had arrived here with them. She knew Kate had to be able to get around even if she weren't nearby. She didn't like it but she knew it.

"So I scale down a dangerous slippery steep slope in a scary storm and drag you back to higher ground, then throw you over my shoulder to carry you back to safety, where I use my exceptional skills as a physician to treat your injuries and hold your hand for eight hours and I get nothing." She smiled amused, "But I lug a little water up the stairs so you can take a warm bath, and then, _then,_ I'm your hero."

"Totally!" Kate virtually cooed feeling the steam on her face as she leaned over and dipped her hand into the perfectly warm water.

"If that's all it takes to win your heart, you're going to be one giant prune with all the baths I'm going to prepare for you. " She smiled putting her arm around her shoulder.

"That's what they all say…" Kate sighed regretfully against her shoulder returning the embrace by wrapping her arm around the other woman's waist.

"What's what they all say?" Juliet laughed, pulling back a little so she could meet the other woman's eyes, her own filled with confusion. "Who, ever in the history of man, said that?"

"Ok, you're right, as far as _lines_ go that _was_ pretty original." Kate acknowledged."But you know what I mean. At first it's all hearts and flowers and hot baths, then you'll get all bored with me-let me get stinky just so you'll have an excuse not to snuggle after…" She left her sentence hanging suggestively with a deep over dramatic huff.

Juliet laughed raucously before leaning down to press her lips to Kate's firmly. Breaking the kiss she pulled her into a tight hug leaning in so her lips were close to the younger woman's ear. "I am positive that it would be a complete and utter impossibility for me to get bored with you-baby."

Kate shuddered in her arms a little at Juliet's words and the close proximity of her, but it was her hot breath on her ear that was going to be the death of her.

"Juliet," She murmured contentedly practically clinging to the other woman. They both just stood there for a while just enjoying the moment.

"Hey," Juliet took a deep breath pulling away from the other, "You're water's going to get cold."

"Ummm." Kate agreed thoughtfully meeting the blonde's eyes.

Juliet moved to close the seat on the toilet, "Sit down,"

Kate obeyed and Juliet knelt down before her to slowly and carefully unwrap the ace bandage, the ankle was badly bruised but Juliet noticed the swelling had gone way down with some satisfaction and relief.

Standing up she reached down for the waist band and helped Kate out of the sweatshirt.

"Now you've got the right idea," Kate smirked.

"What?" Juliet asked already tugging at the long sleeve shirt. Once it was over Kate's head and off she noticed Kate's Cheshire cat grin, she looked at her a little befuddled for a moment, before it dawned on her, "Ah, the right idea being-now I'm taking your clothes off?" She asked amused.

Kate nodded a sexy come hither look in her sparkling eyes. "Please feel free to continue." She said in an almost dare like voice clearly attempting to embarrass the older woman.

Juliet rolled her eyes, "You are completely incorrigible."

"Yeah but you love me anyway." Agreed Kate confidently.

"Yup,looks like I'm a little screwed there." Juliet only paused for a second before yanking Kate's tank top off startling the younger woman's smirk right off her face as she was now left sitting there in only her panties.

"Hey!" Kate exclaimed suddenly beat red as she quickly crossed her arms over her breasts.

"Kate, I'm a doctor, a fertility specialist, a _women's_ doctor. I've seen lot's of women's breasts." she said smugly, enjoying Kate's mild discomfort.

"Yeah, well th-that's different." Kate sputtered as Juliet stood with her hands on her hips, eyebrows raised, waiting expectantly.

"Kate, come on I have to check your wound." She said gently, handing her a towel. "Here,"

Kate took the towel and wrapped it quickly around her torso, so the majority of her chest was covered but the doctor could still have access to the bandage. Juliet had turned to get a few items from her medical bag giving Kate some privacy while she covered up. All that bold seductive _look at me, how sexy am I?_ talk and in reality Kate was shy, Juliet mused thinking that the sweet younger woman would never stop surprising her.

Kneeling back down in front of her, she sprayed a cool liquid over the edge of the bandage and watched smiling as Kate's face braced up for the tearing off of the really big band aid.

When she gently peeled it away the brunette's eyes lit up with amazement. "Wow, I barely felt that."

"Yeah will the wonders of medical technology in the 21'st century never cease?" Juliet taunted. She ran her fingers around the angry red edges of the three stitches she had used to close the wound. "Is that tender?"

"A little," Kate had been putting off looking down afraid she would be hideously disfigured, but finally mustered up the courage to look down. "Stitches?" she physically flinched. "You gave me stitches? How'd you-"

"I know it's amazing what they teach us in medical school these days." Juliet continued to mock the younger woman's naiveté.

"Cute," Kate said sardonically, "I just meant I thought that would wake me up."

Juliet laughed, "Kate, really you weren't enjoying a little siesta, you were unconscious."

"You know you can be a bit of a condescending bitch sometimes." She glared playfully.

"I know, but you love me anyway, right?" Juliet smiled a little too widely knowing without a doubt, she had won this round of '_who's the biggest sarcasta-bitch?_' .

"So, both screwed then?" Kate asked grinning even as she tried to feign regret.

"I- ah, put out some clean towels and clothes," Juliet said pointing to the top of the hamper unable to look away from the brunette , "Will you be Ok?"

"I think I can handle the panties," She muttered.

Juliet stood up leaning over to whisper close to her ear, "You're gonna be begging me to take you're panties off lover."

Then she straightened and was out the door before Kate was done audibly gulping.

Kate was blushing hard as she sat there for a few more minutes still oddly compelled to hold the towel against her torso like she was changing for the first time in the girl's locker room in fifth grade gym class. She smiled anticipatorily, knowing Juliet's words to be absolute fact.

Finally returning to her senses she again realized her precious warm bath was cooling rapidly when she noticed barely any steam rising from the water. Quickly peeling off her underwear she limped over to the tub and eased herself into the still slightly too hot water. The water was especially soothing on her ankle which had begun to throb again. She had refused another shot of Demerol though, she would not be put off again tonight with the excuse that she was mentally incapacitated. That is, if she didn't get all freaked out by Juliet seeing her naked, she mentally slapped her own bashful awkward ass. Rolling her eyes she leaned back in the tub putting a warm wet washcloth over her face. "I'm such a dork." She mumbled under her breath mortified.

Soon she found herself being a little introspective though, when had she ever been embarrassed to undress in front of a sexual partner? Never, that's when. She had tragically learned from an inappropriately early age that she was physically attractive. She had also been guilty, quite a few times of using that fortunate trait to her own personal advantage. She didn't feel good about it in that respect…but she was well aware of the fact that she was_ 'not hard to look at'._

What made Juliet so different from everyone else? She pondered this for less than a minute before smiling gleefully to herself when her brain threw '_everything' _ at her. The blonde was actually _hot_ in her own right. She was also a bit shy herself which she rationalized caused Kate to be a little more self conscious. She was the first woman she had even ever considered in _that_ way. There were so many explanations for the sudden timid attitude she was giving off.

Taking the facecloth off she began washing herself harshly knowing that everything she had just been thinking was bullshit. What was different about Juliet had nothing to do with the blonde's bashful nature or her sex. The reason Juliet was different was because Kate loved her. Without a doubt was deeply and surely in love with the woman she used to foolishly think she hated. She had always been pretty sure that the term 'madly inlove' was a silly romantic phrase for the terminally stupid. And she, herself, was obviously incapable of such a feeling. But now she found herself smiling goofily, with goose bumps and a little bit of a lump in her throat. All definite signs that she was experiencing what she formerly would have thought of as a definite problem, but here she found herself wondering what could possibly make this a bad thing.

Juliet wandered around her own bedroom tidying up ridiculous little things for five minutes before she even realized what she was doing. She rationally knew it was just silly that she worried she wouldn't be able to hear Kate call for help if she slipped or something, from anywhere in the house. She would probably hear her from anywhere in the general vicinity of the house. Ironically the storm had been letting up since she had been so terrified she would fail in her silly little _rescue mission_ going over that cliff to get Kate. What made her think though… was the fact that she wasn't at all worried about her own safety in the outcome of that scenario.

Kate sat in the bed after her bath, let Juliet wrap her ankle and re-bandage her stitches quietly. She ate her lunch without complaint (shake included). She knew Juliet had been studying her with intense curiosity throughout when she suddenly said she had to check the level of the well and other basic little chores that they usually split up. When, in reality, she had actually rushed downstairs to take care of a few things for _their first date, _that thoughtful look in Kate's eyes had been close to driving her crazy.

She had set up two end tables next to each side of the head of the bed for nightstands. The reclining armchair she had dragged back in was close enough to the foot of the bed so that Kate could practically slide into it without even fully standing. She had emptied the front hall closet of the three coats that hung their and replaced them with Kate's clothes that she removed during Kate's bath.

Then she began setting up the candles. They were going to at least have a romantic dinner together tonight. She wanted Kate like she had never wanted anyone ever before, but she had also never imagined being this nervous about seducing someone. Previously, this had never been a problem-knowing there was not much of a chance of being turned down, of course that had been with men. Not with the incredibly gorgeous and complicated woman that was Katherine Austin. But she found herself with a newfound confidence at the discovery of Kate too being a little nervous about this whole thing.

Kate was sitting up in bed reading a silly Stephen King novel she had found Juliet left for her on the nightstand, when she had briefly fallen asleep. She had been trying to be patient, hoping the other woman would want to share their evening meal when she heard the blonde coming up the stairs. The brunette was surprised when she noticed Juliet's hair was damp but beautifully groomed as opposed to the 'just run in from the storm' look they were both famous for.

She wasn't wearing a tank top, t-shirt, or sweatshirt but a pretty white blessedly low cut peasant top. Of course her pants were just jeans, but the brunette considered she was about as dressed up as they got around here.

"Hi," Juliet stopped inexplicably just over the threshold of the room just staring at her..

Juliet knew she must look like a moron just standing there nervously but couldn't seem to stop herself. "I was wondering if you might have dinner with me tonight." The words seemed awkward and pleading to her own ears, but she forced them out one after the other anyway.

Kate took her cane and stood up a little shakily smiling broadly. "You askin' me out Burke?"

Juliet swallowed hard and nodded mutely. Suddenly the beautiful young brunette was standing so close to right in front of her it made tiny little bolts of electricity dart across her skin.

"The Ritz or the Hard Rock Café?" Kate teased trying to lighten the mood when she noticed how terrified the other woman was.

"I was thinking a fireside picnic." The blonde grinned and seemed to be snapped back to herself by the brunette's sarcasm.

"Sounds kinda romantic," Kate tilted her head a little lost in Juliet's deep blue radiant luminous eyes again.

"Is that a yes?" Juliet asked.

"Yes," She nodded slowly, "That would definitely be a yes."

Juliet held out her arm and Kate took it allowing the blonde to help her limp out into the hall and slowly down the stairs. Kate stopped short at the entryway of the living room. Her eyes went wide taking in the neatly made up bed, easy chair and blanket laden with a feast on the floor in front of the fire. She next took in the candles lit strategically around the room, casting a warm intimate glow over the beautiful setting. She turned to Juliet with adoring eyes and was about to tell her how wonderful she was when a large growling noise overcame the roaring fire, currently the only sound in the room.

Kate's eyebrows shot up and she looked down at Juliet's stomach amused and aghast. Looking back up to meet the older woman's mortified eyes she thought of a million different ways to torture the blonde for hypocritically not looking after her own nutritional needs.

Then she did something else that shocked them both instead and let it go. Smiling warmly at Juliet she leaned up to kiss her cheek gratefully. "It's beautiful. Thank you."

Juliet smiled back at her relieved, and helped her over to sit on the floor in front of one of the place settings. "Wow," Kate said sincerely impressed looking over the plate of rice pilaf(her favorite), canned mixed zucchini , tomatoes, onions and garlic(combined at her own insistence that it would be delicious) and one of the frozen steaks from the walk in that was still cold since they only opened it once so far after the generator gave out. They took a load out and put it in a deep hole under the front porch, to keep it cold, fresh and protected from scavengers. But they hadn't removed any of the few precious steaks they were saving for later when they had run out of dried and canned meat. Clearly Juliet had thought this to be a special occasion."But I'm a little disappointed."

"Huh?" Juliet's face looked worried.

"Those shakes were just starting to grow on me." She grinned.

Not missing a beat Juliet returned her smile and began to stand. "Oh I can whip up one for you right quick Kate that would probably be easier on her stomach anyway."

"Whoa!" Kate's hand shot out to grab her arm pulling her back down, "Kidding, Kidding!"

"I know you goof," Juliet crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue, "But seriously, you need to take it easy, don't overdo it. You're going to feel fuller sooner than you normally would." She cautioned.

"I promise." She let her hand slide down Juliet's arm and squeezed her hand. "I also promise no more impromptu inappropriate dieting. Although someone else might want to take their own advice on that one." She winked unable to resist the little jab.

"Yeah well I was obviously saving my appetite for this." Juliet said blushing as she sat back down in front of her own plate.

"Obviously." Kate said but lifted an eyebrow skeptically.

They ate in mostly a companionable silence that was once in a while interrupted by a compliment to Juliet's culinary skills, which Kate had to admit had improved remarkably and miraculously overnight. After the third flattering remark, Juliet almost choked on her food and hopped up leaving behind a bewildered brunette. She returned in a moment to hand Kate a small booklet that was suggestions on the best way to prepare Kingmans Famous Beef. Kate laughed out loud and looked back at the other woman who had once again taken her seat. "Cheater."

After they finished Juliet cleared the dishes, wrapping up the leftovers quickly and sticking them just outside the door where it was cooler. Then she opened a bottle of wine pouring them both a large glass. When she went to raise the glass to her lips she felt Kate's hand on her wrist stop her. "Wait." She said quietly raising her own glass toward the other woman. "I've never done this and if you make fun of me I'll kick your ass." She mumbled nervously. "To the most beautiful, attentive, kind person I've ever been lucky enough to have a date with." Then she tipped her glass back and swallowed the contents down in a single very uncouth gulp.

Juliet didn't notice as her eyes became moist and her cheeks flushed with emotion. She set her own glass down and moved so she was very much in Kate's personal space. Kate also replaced her own glass, and shifted a bit closer to the blonde until their faces were scarcely an inch apart. They just gazed at one another for a long moment, both of them searching the other's eyes for any signs of hesitation. Juliet smiled and spoke in a soft calm voice, "Just so there is no misunderstanding…"

"What?" Kate asked her voice even softer as she swallowed hard.

"I'm going to kiss you now." Juliet smiled.

"Sounds like a definite plan, I foresee no misunderstandings…" she teased leaning in just a little more so their lips were brushing as she spoke.

"I just wanted to make sure I shouldn't put my sneakers on first in case of unexpected sprinting." She smirked.

Kate's eyes narrowed threateningly "Shut up and kiss me Blondie."

Of course she didn't have time to process that thought before Kate's own lips met hers. "Ummm…" Juliet moaned against the impossibly gentle chaste caress of her lips by the brunette who was truly a gifted kisser. Wait another career option perhaps? No, that would just be wrong…her crazy less than lucid thoughts were stopped dead with the sensation of Kate's tongue skimming over her lower lip obviously in askance. Juliet's lips seemed to part of their own accord sucking Kate's tongue into her mouth impatiently.

Kate's arms went around the taller woman's neck allowing the weight of her upper body to be held up by Juliet's strong arm that was wrapped around her back, as she explored the still unfamiliar territory once again, eagerly running her tongue sensually over every centimeter of the inside of the blonde's mouth. _God_, she thought, once again floored by what Juliet's kiss did to her. She knew she was trembling like a high school girl on prom night that had never been kissed but she didn't care. All she cared about was the way the other woman's supple tongue massaged her own.

Juliet was having trouble holding back. She didn't want to overwhelm the brunette but couldn't help pushing her down to the floor carefully holding herself up on one elbow as not to crush the delicate woman beneath her. She stroked her cheek gently with her other hand as she broke the astonishingly intense kiss opening her eyes to find Kate's already open and looking at her with such need. They were both breathing hard at the deprivation of oxygen that took place during the rather lengthy smooch.

"Just so there are no misunderstandings," Kate said her voice raspy as she caught her breath, "I want to make love to you."

"Understood," Juliet breathed leaning back in to resume the kiss.

They made out like that for a while never seeming to grow tired of exploring one another's mouths, until Juliet felt Kate's hands that had been wrapped around her neck and then shoulders and then down her back, slide across her butt, gripping firmly to pull her closer.

"Oh," she gasped surprised pulling back to look deeply into Kate's eyes. "I want to take you to bed." She whispered longingly.

"Please," Kate barely managed to murmur meeting her eyes with the mirror image of her desire. Juliet managed to disentangle herself from the other woman ever careful not to bump any of her injuries, and stood to help the other woman to her one good foot. They paused their Juliet glancing over at the bed hesitantly before turning her head back to meet Kate's eyes. "Are you sure?" she asked gently.

"So very sure." Kate answered in a throaty whisper.

Juliet helped support Kate's weight as she lowered her onto the bed, taking care to make sure her ankle was comfortable as she climbed over her to straddle her hips. She paused there staring down at the younger woman with more affection than Kate had ever seen in the eyes of a lover.

"I love you." Juliet said simply but with such sincerity it made Kate's breath hitch.

Kate's hands reached up to rest lightly on the other woman's hips that were hovering just over her own. She pulled her down to firmly rest on hers before sliding her palms up her sides and then around to her front cupping her full heavy breasts, "And I love you," The words were barely audible and Juliet knew they were not the easiest thing in the world for the brunette to say, but they were by far the most lyrical sound the blonde had ever heard. Then she was leaning down claiming Kate's mouth again hungrily. She ran her hands through Kate's hair lifting in an effort to pull her deeper into the kiss.

Kate was kneading the amazingly soft pliant flesh that filled her hands, now crushed between their bodies. When Juliet's lips slid down over her chin to suckle gently at the tender flesh of her throat the smaller woman groaned arching her back to press herself more tightly against her lover, "Oh, ummm…Juliet."

"God," Juliet whispered her lips pressed to the strong rapid pulse she found at the base of her neck, "I want to feel you against me. We are way over dressed here."

"Agreed," Kate said in a rough voice pulling away a little so she could hurriedly begin unbuttoning Juliet's shirt. Juliet suddenly had her hands at the hem of Kate's jersey and nudged the other woman's hands out of the way sitting up a little to make room to pull Kate up so she could remove the offending top.

"Ow," Kate cried when the shirt caught on the new bandage a little.

"Oh my god!" Juliet panicked sitting fully up terrified that she might have further injured the younger woman. "I hurt you, shit, I'm so sorry."

Kate rushed to sit up as well taking Juliet's face between her hands tenderly. "It's ok. I'm ok." She soothed kissing her lips reassuringly then she pulled back and gave Juliet that stunning smug grin that made Juliet tingle all over. "Don't wig out on me now Dr. Burke."

Juliet studied her eyes for a moment her own filled with worry then looked down to critically examine the bandage that was still firmly in place. Glancing back up to meet Kate's own concerned expression, she began to caress Kate's nipples through the material of her bra with the palms of her hands. "You're kind of sexy when you're a smartass." She said in a soft sultry tone.

"Ohhh…" Kate's eyes grew a little heavy and hooded with the incredibly sexy slow circles Juliet's palms were making over the front of her bra. As her hands found their way around Juliet's arms to continue undoing her buttons she bowed her head a little and moved forward to press her cheek against the soft slightly perspiring skin between Juliet's breasts, she turned her head with a sudden intense desire to kiss the damp skin in the middle of the other woman's chest where her cheek had just been resting.

Juliet's head came down so she could rest her own cheek against the full free soft curls on the top Kate's as she tried to maintain her even breathing as Kate's lips made her shudder.

She arched her back pressing her chest to Kate's mouth as she felt the woman she held so closely open her mouth. When her tongue slithered out to lick down as low into her cleavage as the bra would allow, Juliet moaned ecstatically. She was forced to stop the soothing pressure she was applying to Kate's smaller but incredibly firm bosom, when the younger woman yanked her arms back as she removed her shirt putting her hands in the middle of her back holding her in place and kissing up over the lacy top of her bra.

Juliet gazed down at how beautiful she looked there with something akin to awe.

Kate bit into her flesh causing Juliet to keen softly. Growling a little when she realized she was as close as she could get to her nipple without the barrier of material between them, frustrated with trying to nose the tight undergarment out of her way. "Can I take this off?" she husked, moving a hand across the band of the other woman's bra.

"God yes." Juliet exhaled stroking Kate's silky hair with one hand and her slightly upturned cheek with the other as their eyes met.

Kate rapidly dispensed with her bra. Juliet was startled with how quickly and smoothly her jeans followed the undergarment to the floor. At the same time Kate suddenly flipped her over so she was now pinning the startled blonde to the mattress with the length of her body. While she was aware that the blonde's attire suddenly consisted of just her panties she knew it was still way too much. "Christ you make me hot." She said bowing her head to suckle and nibble at one of the other woman's hard nipples enthusiastically.

Juliet was pulling at the waist band of Kate's skirt and Kate lifted her hips accommodatingly as Juliet removed the silky garment bending awkwardly as to not put any strain her ankle. Kate reached around to unclasp her own bra tossing it across the room before lowering her own breasts to rub them slowly and sensuously against Juliet's.

"Jesus! Please Kate touch me!" Juliet shivered violently against the other woman as she exclaimed impatiently feeling the twitching of her own thighs and the moisture pooling between them, then Kate's thigh was their rubbing against the wet material of her panties, right where she needed it. Juliet's head was spinning now as she desperately ground her pelvis against that firmly muscled leg squeezed tightly between her own.

Kate leaned up to meet the older woman's needy eyes with a touch of teasing in her expression. "Now who's begging who to take off their panties?"

"Me Kate, I'm begging. Please don't stop- y-you're making me-it feels so good, but..." Juliet moaned feeling Kate's hand cup her ass underneath the material of her underwear, before sliding it around to her hip and sliding it down easily lifting her own body in accordance to relieve Juliet of the last barrier between Kate and where Kate needed to be. "But you want more?" Kate asked seductively.

Juliet whimpered quietly as she felt Kate's hips rise a little to make more room for her hand that was now running back up the inside of Juliet's thigh. She looked down at the way Juliet's head was thrown back pressing into the pillow, it was easily the most erotic sight Kate had ever seen but she wanted more she needed to see her eyes. "Juliet, please look at me." She said calmly but firmly.

Juliet was on fire as their heated sweaty bodies slid against each other. She didn't want to open her eyes in case this was a dream and Kate suddenly disappeared. When she did Kate saw the insecurity their and reached up with the hand that had been holding onto her hip for leverage to caress the other woman's cheek reassuringly. "Shhh…I'm here honey." Kate whispered, her tone was hushed but it enveloped Juliet with such an intense sense of security and safety.

When Kate was positive she had her gorgeous girlfriend's attention she moved her fingers painfully slowly through the soft drenched petals of Juliet's outer lips. "I want you to come for me _juliet_," she saw the other woman's eyes flutter helplessly. Seeing that nearly ended Kate herself as she realized she was now rubbing her own wet center through her panties on Juliet's thigh that was bent up a little to give her a better angle. One of the older woman's hands slid down her back to slip inside of the brunette's underwear to firmly hold her to where she bent her knee even more to give Kate more pressure.

"Will you come for me _Juliet?"_ she again stressed the name that made her own heart skip a beat as she gently prodded at the other woman's opening. Juliet opened her eyes wider again to meet Kate's.

"Oh yes Kate!" She screamed startling the brunette by angling her hips just the right way to push up and swallow Kate's stiff fingers that were just slightly dipping into the opening with her hungry pussy, as she began to ride Kate's hand slowly getting used to the two fingers inside her, the woman on top of her watched her eyes roll back into her head and it did things to her.

Kate caught up quickly with the excited blondes hips, driving her fingers into the other woman as fast as Juliet was moving her center against her.

"Yes, Yes, Yes," was the mantra now steadily streaming from Juliet's mouth. "Yes, fuck me! Oh Kate! Harder! Deeper! Yes, yes, yes-" she groaned as she thrust up against the brunette especially hard.

Kate could feel the beautiful woman's inner muscles pulling at the digits she had embedded in Juliet. She stilled her fingers leaving them deep inside the other woman but stationary. "God yes Juliet that's so sweet, squeeze my fingers, show me how good it feels."

Kate wanted this vision before her to last forever and watched the blonde's forehead crinkle up in frustration. "Please Kate, make me come." Her voice was lower and laced with such need Kate couldn't make her wait anymore. She resumed pumping in and out of the blond at the same time rubbing her clit on Juliet's thigh like she had found nirvana. As the younger woman's thumb finally found the other woman's clit and began massaging it roughly, Juliet began to pant and wail loudly, Kate's names and some rather interesting expletives escaped her mouth which was now hanging open with her heavy breathing.

Juliet had always assumed seeing stars to be a silly exaggeration until she found herself riding Kate's hand into the most intense orgasm she had ever felt, the pinpoints of colored lights on the inside of her eyelids shocking her as she writhed and bucked under Kate whose lips were suckling at one of her nipples like it was a lifeline as she watched the exquisite beauty come undone beneath her. That was all the push her mind and body needed as she soon was pushed over the edge too. She could hear herself grunting in a very unladylike manor as she heaved into Juliet's supple velvety body but couldn't have possibly cared less.

"God I love you." Juliet soothed her hands over Kate's body as the last quivers of her peak her wrung out of her.

Kate lifted her head that lay pillowed on Juliet's soft breasts to lean her chin on the other woman's sternum to stare up fuzzily up into her eyes. "Wow…" she grinned and Juliet's face split with a wide smile as she lifted her head to lean down and kiss her forehead lovingly.

"Yeah wow," she agreed her expression as she gazed at Kate filled with complete and utter adoration.

It was long after they had fallen asleep that the man dared approach the front porch grabbing the bag and shredding it gnashing his teeth together with a rage he had not thought possible in a single human being. He had seen everything, through the thin curtain seemingly frozen in shock. The rain was only trickling now and he had a very clear sightline to observe everything they did. How could She? Why? And with another woman! Blasphemy!

Silas had been here for a long time, longer than he could even remember, but he knew this had to be the devil of the island's strange magic doing these things to contaminate Sarah's mind. She would never-! Then he was running off into the jungle screaming at the top of his lungs in an effort to erase the horrifying image of his Sarah looking at that bansee or incubus with such obvious desire, that he feared was burnt into his brain forever.


	11. Chapter 11

Title: experiments part 11

Scribbler:

Fandom: Lost

Pairing: Kate/Juliet

Spoilers: sure, why not…ok I don't know

Warnings: Intense Female on Female lovey -dovey ahead…continue at your own risk of getting a little choked up or giggling hysterically.

Disclaimers: Lost is not mine, therefore the characters of Kate and Juliet do not belong to me, just borrowing them for a bit.

Scribblers Note: I didn't like the way their first time came out…but ya know we were all nervous, it being out first time, yes Kate, Juliet and I. So I kinda ignored everything else in this so they could have adorable, intense, heartbreaking, sensual sex…I might owe someone credit for that sentence. Let's just call it my one chapter PWP pass.

Kate felt Juliet the next morning before she even opened her eyes. She was nuzzling the brunette's ear with her cheek, then her nose. Kate shivered, when she felt the tip of Juliet's tongue run around the shell of her ear from where it met her high cheek bone all the way around to the fleshy lobe that she wrapped her lips around and suckled lightly. "I'm sorry," She bit down on the fleshy nub and Kate jerked a little. "I've been watching you sleep for an hour, I didn't want to wake you." She nuzzled lower her lips now pressed against her neck just behind her ear where she whispered against her baby soft skin, "You looked so peaceful, so beautiful…but I couldn't wait any longer-I needed…" Kate felt Juliet's hand that was resting lightly on her bare lower belly begin rubbing small soothing circles there.

"Needed…?" Kate questioned in a low voice filled with already dripping with arousal though she was barely even conscious.

"I needed to touch you again." Kate was torn between reveling in the sweet sensations of Juliet lips moving down and kissing and suckling at her pulse which was already going a mile a minute and the hand that was ever so slowly sliding its way up her naked torso under the comforter that covered them.

"Are you mad?" She asked her hand moving over her left breast in a feather light caress, smiling against Kate's neck as she felt her nipple grow stony in her palm.

"Huh, what, mad?" Kate gasped and stammered a little confused as she arched her back pushing her breast into Juliet's hand which responded by beginning a slow gently massage.

"Are you upset?" Juliet's lips were now lining her clavicle with slow open mouthed kisses."That I woke you."

"Are you kidding?" Kate muttered dazedly as her shoulders rose off the bed.

Juliet leaned down to lay a gentle kiss over the bandage that she knew she should be changing instead of…then she began randomly kissing around her right breast studiously avoiding the nipple. "I didn't think you'd mind," her tongue darted out to press the tip against her nipple which was as erect as its mate.

Juliet felt the other woman's fingers threading through her hair then her hand pushing her head down more firmly against her breast. She began suckling in earnest on the nipple that clearly required more attention, enjoying the soft mewling sounds she could both hear and feel in Kate's vibrating chest.

"Ummmm…you so should have woken me up earlier." Kate moaned arching up further into the other woman's sensual ministrations. Juliet moved her hand up to her sternum pushing her back flat into the mattress.

"Couldn't" She began kissing across her chest, pausing to lick the skin between those two beautiful mounds of yielding malleable flesh that drove her crazy with want, before brushing her cheek against her other breast lovingly. "You needed your rest…" She licked the pebbled flesh around the other nipple before gently scraping her teeth up it, "I need my favorite patient fully recovered as quickly as possible." She murmured before mouthing her breast as if she wanted to pull the whole thing into her mouth.

"Jesus Christ," Kate's hand fisted in her hair, "You are _sooo_ the best doctor I've ever had."

"I hoped," She said raising her head to pin Kate with a sultry gaze. "I was the only doctor you've ever_ had._"

"Well there was a medical student once but he was young and a little over eager, if you know what I mean." She grinned down at the blonde whose hand was now warming her damp cold exposed breast.

"I don't think that'll be an issue with us." She kissed her way up Kate's neck murmuring into her flesh as she stopped now and then to suckle, nibble or lick at expanses of skin that looked particularly delectable to the older woman. Moving so that the upper half of her torso was lightly lying on top of the young brunette, she dragged her tongue up underneath Kate's chin heading for her lips. That's when Kate smelled the blonde's minty fresh breath. When she was about to kiss her Kate yanked her hair a little stopping her in mid pucker, and covered her own mouth with her fee hand.

"What is it?" She searched Kate's eyes with concern, glancing back down to make sure she had not disturbed the bandage with the weight of her upper body.

"We're not there yet." Kate explained a little breathless.

"Kissing?" she asked incredulously. "Kate, it's gonna hurt my feelings a little if you don't remember last night, but you did notice I've been licking you up and down for the last ten minutes or so right?" She asked reaching up to feel her forehead for a fever.

"Not kissing," Kate batted the doctor's hand away blushing, and then brought it back to cover her mouth again before she spoke. "Morning breath,"

Juliet's face split into a huge grin. "I don't care." She tried to reassure, shaking her head amused.

"But I do!" Kate nudged Juliet back as she attempted to kiss her again, wiggling out from underneath the taller woman, who was now laughing softly as she watched Kate grab the cane and hobble towards the bathroom as quickly as possible. Juliet looked after her fondly…God she was adorable. Watching her too thin naked form limping along with the decidedly old man's cane, she fought the urge to go to her side and help her, if not just pick her up and toss her over her shoulder again. She stifled another giggle wondering how Kate felt about the whole caveman mentality.

"Be careful baby, watch the ankle. There's no hurry, I'll be right here." She called after her reassuringly.

Kate tossed her a glance over her shoulder as she was about to turn down the hall. "Speak for yourself lady, the way you just woke me up…there is most definitely a hurry." She winked suggestively.

Juliet laughed harder and sat up to pull the t-shirt off that she had thrown on this morning while she was taking care of her early morning bathroom necessities. She turned to toss it towards the couch. That's when she saw Kate's bra, that she had carelessly rid herself of in the heat of passion the night before, literally hanging off the lampshade. Shaking her head to herself, she took note of the fact that it wasn't the bra she had laid out with the skirt and shirt and underwear for after her bath. Then she thought back to the matching sexy black panties that Juliet had peeled off with her teeth, also different from the bland cotton white ones she had taken out for the beautiful younger woman. She remembered how nervous she had been about her expectations for their '_date' _and realized with a happy sly smile that the smaller woman obviously had pretty much the same expectations for the evening.

Lying back on the bed so her head rested comfortably on the pillows, she closed her eyes with an almost fuzzy, more contented feeling of complete joy than she had ever known before; it seemed to permeate every fiber of her being. She was happy, really happy. Remembering some of the more wonderful moments of their first night together, she began to drift into a beautiful daydream of limbs intertwined and soft satisfied moans. Juliet remembered everything…Kate's touch, her smell, her unbelievable taste. She tasted like the sun, all warmth and comfort, even though it had been pretty much continuously pouring for a month now. It was like it radiated from her skin instead of her having ever absorbed it.

"What are you thinking about?" Suddenly the younger woman was on her hands and knees straddling the blonde's reclining form. She was holding herself up over her so no part of her was touching the blonde and Juliet had actually been so deep in thought she didn't hear her approach. She loved the way her long dark freshly brushed ringlets hung down to curtain their faces as the brunette leaned close to her, as if it was shielding them from anything else in the world that might interrupt this perfect moment.

"You" Juliet looked up into her eyes with such a look of unqualified love it came close to taking Kate's breath away.

Kate bowed her head lower to meet her lips in such a soft caress it caused a slight shudder to move up Juliet's spine. "So where were we?" Kate breathed kissing across her cheek so her lips moved against the taller woman's ear. "I forget."

"I believe," Juliet whispered seductively grabbing the younger woman by her slim hips in a solid but gentle grasp and rolling them over so she was once again at her side leaning over her with a hungry pointed gaze. "I was trying to kiss my smokin' hot girlfriend good morning when I was rudely interrupted by morning breath."

Her tone was low and throaty. Kate's own eyes fluttered weakly as she felt the blonde settle her larger bared breasts against her own. "Am I your girlfriend?" Kate breathed with a slightly spooked look in her eye.

"Do you want to be my girlfriend, baby?" Juliet questioned nervously, not having thought about how Kate would react to the label.

She stared hard at the smaller woman searching her eyes with such a hopeful worried expression it came close to breaking Kate's heart. "I've never wanted to be anyone's anything-not since John…" Kate said her eyes misting a little meeting Juliet's gaze with more honesty than she believed herself capable of.

Juliet leaned down to kiss her forehead, then her cheek, and finally her slightly quivering lips tenderly. Pulling away just far enough to speak, she looked deeply into Kate's eyes. "Kate, it's ok. I underst-"

Kate cut her off with a single finger pressed to the blonde's lips. "I love you." She said quietly.

Juliet could feel the other woman trembling beneath her. "Kate-you don't have to-I mean I don't' want you to feel like you have to say something to me because you think I need to hear it." She stroked her cheek looking at her tentatively.

"Juliet," Kate began leaning into the other woman's touch closing her eyes afraid she might not be able to say what she so desperately wanted to if she had to meet those bright expectant blue eyes that seemed to see into her very soul. "I've said those words to exactly three people in my life. My grandmother and mom were among that number." She took a deep breath and opened her moist eyes to meet the blonde's. "I wouldn't-I couldn't say that to you if I didn't m-mean it…" Kate was stammering a little and felt like an idiot, but then she saw in Juliet's eyes that the other woman completely understood what she was trying to say.

"I believe this is where we left off." Juliet said huskily as she bent down to kiss Kate deeply with an appetite she didn't know she possessed. She didn't even let Kate catch her breath before she was thrusting her tongue between the soft moist lips that seemed to turn her ravenous, starving for more.

"So does this mean we're, like, going steady?" Kate asked breaking there kiss after a moment with a tiny smirk.

"Going steady?" Juliet smiled down at her amused.

"Sure," Kate leaned up to kiss her lightly on the lips and then continued smiling innocently, "Isn't that what your generation called it?"

Juliet's eyes bugged out a little with shock easily picking up on the younger woman's mocking tone, and she moved to climb over Kate's hips to sit down on her stomach and whipped the pillow out from under the younger woman's head and putting it over her face. "I oughta kick your scrawny ass." She said threateningly.

Kate laughed hard under the pillow. "Hey lady, if you recall our little rumble in the jungle, I think you'll have to admit _I_ kicked _your_ ass." She said in muffled voice from under the pillow.

Juliet moved the pillow and looked down at the younger woman, "Alright small fry," She took Kate's wrists and pinned them to the bed on either side of her head "You're just begging for a rematch."

"Small fry?" Kate gaped at her but when she struggled to move her arms she found Juliet, who was leaning her weight into the hold, indeed did have her trapped beneath her. Not that she minded in the least. She moved her stomach up a little and began caressing her center through her underwear with her tight abdominal muscles.

"Mmmm," Juliet sighed a little closing her eyes at the sensual sensation of Kate rubbing up against the soaked crotch of her panties. Kate smiled as she felt Juliet's grasp on her wrists loosen a little. "Well there was some talk amongst us 'others' over whether or not you were a midget."

Kate gawked at her disbelievingly, "That's offensive."

"Oh yeah sorry, you guys want to be called little people now, right?" Juliet teased but Kate noticed she was now sliding herself against the smaller woman and her eyes that were now open again were heavily hooded with desire.

She was pretty sure momentarily she could have the upper hand and roll the other woman off of her.

"What's with the panties, Juliet, I could have sworn I took those off last night." Kate continued in a seductive tone.

"Yeah…clean ones, this morning while I was waiting for your lazy butt to wake up…" She said feeling herself growing distracted from the conversation.

"I hate to break it to you but their all dirty now, I can feel how wet you are for me." Kate sighed also getting distracted from their silly banter.

"What about you, baby, are you wet?" She asked her voice thick with want.

"I guess you'll have to let go of my hands if you want to find out…" Kate stated with more confidence than she actually felt as she began to wiggle impatiently under the older woman.

"I wanna check with my tongue," She whispered lustily.

"Mmmm, yeah? What's stopping you?" Kate felt herself blushing deeply, which surprised her since she felt like every bit of her blood was being drawn into her engorged clitoris, she shuddered her eyes closing tightly and her forehead furrowing at the sexy sensations Juliet's words were stirring in her lower belly.

"I don't think I can trust you to stay put." She explained knowing she was winning their little game of dominance when she felt Kate shaking steadily now underneath her. "Will you be good if I let go of your hands and stay put so I can taste that hot little pussy of yours again, baby?"

Kate knew she had lost when her hips bucked up into the blonde of their own accord at Juliet's sexy question. "Yes. Please. I promise." She whimpered her eyes almost closed as she felt her already damp center growing wetter by the second.

Juliet experimentally released the pressure on Kate's wrist's watching the younger woman carefully for any sign of deceit. She sat up pressing herself down to hold a now writhing Kate more firmly into the mattress as her hands released her wrists and her fingertips began to slide over the length of her bent arms until they reached her shoulders, "That's my good girl," Juliet smiled pleased when Kate's hands didn't move from the position she had left them in. She leaned down taking her lower lip between her teeth and tugging gently her eyes darting from side to side to check Kate's hands, before she slid her own flattened ones downward from Kate's shoulders.

"Godddd…" Kate moaned as she felt the blonde's hands cup her breasts. Juliet's lips turned up ever so slightly when she noticed Kate's hands turning into tight fists. "Juliet I want to touch you."

Juliet smiled widely when she saw Kate's fists trembling with frustration but still not moving an inch. Moving her hands to her own breasts she bent down carefully lining her nipples up with Kate's and lightly brushing them together. Her face was millimeters from Kate's when the brunette's eyes shot open filled with need.

"Shit…" She said her hands began to inch away from their appointed positions toward the blonde who was clearly trying to drive her insane.

"No." Juliet stated simply in a deceivingly calm voice although she couldn't stop herself from pushing a little harder into the body lying beneath her.

"Uhhh," Kate froze when she felt Juliet sitting back up and separating their breasts again.

"That's better," she complimented Kate, leaning back over causing the younger woman to close her eyes with relief. She leaned down once more and ran her tongue along the line between Kate's sweet lips, watching her eyebrows scrunch up, looking a little overwhelmed, even with her eyes shut. She didn't even glance at her still free hands trusting them to remain still as long as she was doing these very fun little things to hold onto the young woman's attention.

She licked across her cheek, very satisfied with Kate's healthy twitch when her tongue darted quickly into her ear. "Goood." She smiled against her ear.

Kate twitched again with the warm exhaled breath of that one word in her ear.

"I like it when you listen." Juliet whispered huskily into that place right behind the other woman's ear that she had learned made her seem to quake in her own skin.

"You should be flattered; I'm not generally a listener." Kate said between gritted teeth, knowing she would have pushed her off and ravished her if it weren't for the promise of feeling her soft lips and strong tongue once again pleasuring her into an entirely different universe.

"Yeah," Juliet chuckled into her neck lightly, "Without reading your file, that would have taken me about ten seconds after meeting you to figure out."

"Why won't you let me touch you?" Juliet could see the younger woman's knuckles turning a little white at controlling her urge to touch her and she couldn't help but feel her ego swell a bit at how much this beautiful young woman wanted her.

"I've been awake for an hour longer than you so therefore I've been waiting an hour longer to touch you." She explained moving up a little to whisper close to her ear.

Kate pinched her eyes shut tighter at the feel of her lover's hot breath in her ear. She almost felt like she had another completely erogenous zone whenever Juliet's lips, tongue or especially her warm breath closed in on one of her ears. "No Sa," Kate argued, "Because I was dreaming about touching you at the same time."

"Tell me Kate," she ordered seductively, "Were you really dreaming about touching me? Maybe you were really thinking about me touching your incredibly lovely little body while you were sleeping."

"Uhmmm, OK, I was thinking…" Kate began to confess, way beyond being capable of any subterfuge at this point. She took a deep breath before continuing, "I was thinking about your lips kissing me."

Juliet lifted her head a little so she could carefully examine the other woman's face. Kate's eye's remained scrunched closed with the utter aggravation she was feeling. She had to fight falling down between the brunette's legs, prying them open and devouring her. She used all her willpower to begin kissing down her chest ever so slowly.

"Here?" She asked sucking a nipple into her mouth.

"Yes and-" Kate stammered weakly.

"And?" Juliet questioned, her eyes raised to study Kate as she moved to lavish attention on the other nipple.

"Between my legs." Kate shook harder with want.

"You mean you want me to kiss your tight little cunt baby?" She asked having trouble now keeping her own thoughts in order.

"Jeesuuussss, yes." Kate squirmed beneath her as Juliet sat up a little so she could push Kate's legs open a little and kneel between them.

Kate quivered when she felt Juliet's index finger run up along her drenched slit collecting her sticky moisture. She opened her eyes that were filled with pleading when she felt Juliet's finger break the contact, and then couldn't even begin to process the thoughts it would have taken her mind to make her body move when she was suddenly paralyzed by the sight of Juliet bringing said finger up to her mouth sucking it and Kate's arousal into her mouth. "Oh my god." She said barely audibly, her body on fire.

"I love the way you taste on my tongue," Juliet said in a sultry voice holding Kate's gaze as she lowered her mouth to Kate's center, her hands going to the insides of her thighs holding them open trying to remain calm even as her tongue automatically reached out to lick her hard little nub, causing the younger woman to jerk violently.

Kate tried to regain control of her harsh breathing as she felt the other woman's hands caress up the insides of her thighs until her fingers were pulling her outer lips open.

Juliet saw Kate's eyes roll back in her head with satisfaction and looked down refocusing on the vision before her.

Kate bucked up against Juliet's face as she mouthed the younger woman's center. When her tongue pushed deeply inside her entrance Kate lost control, her mouth hanging open as she groaned loudly and her hands moved as if she had no power to stop them. One of them twining in the beautiful golden hair that was currently fanned across her thighs pulling her deeper into her burning core, while the other covered her own eyes afraid she would open them and not be able to handle what was happening. Last night had been wonderful but this morning she felt a whole new level of emotion with their establishing that this intense thing between them was not all in her own mind. "Unggg... Juliet, it feels so good."

Of course Juliet was beyond hearing and comprehending the other woman's words as she hungrily suckled at Kate's excited juices now flowing freely into her mouth. She did notice it though when Kate's hips began rhythmically moving against her mouth. And she did hear her when she begged in a small voice, "Please Juliet, I need your fingers."

"Where do you want my fingers lover?" Juliet took a deep breath, forcing her to calm down, so she could prolong the other woman's pleasure.

"Inside me" She breathed shakily.

Juliet moved her right hand so she had the tips of her index and middle finger poised at her opening. Pushing them in just a little she felt Kate tense and waited for a moment until she felt the younger woman relax.

"Are you ready sweetie?" Kate heard the other woman's voice from what seemed like really far away as she arched her back and tried to thrust her hips forward in an attempt to spear herself with Juliet's long slender fingers, she threw her head back into the mattress in frustration when Juliet moved her free hand to her stomach to hold her firmly in place keeping her fingers where she wanted them.

"Yes, yes. Please Juliet," she cried breathlessly.

Juliet heard Kate's voice quiver with want. She couldn't bring herself to tease the younger woman any longer and began pushing slowly inside of her, feeling her velvety inner walls trying to suck her fingers deeper inside of her. "God I love it when your sweet little pussy pulls on my fingers. It's like you can't get me deep enough inside of you." She said beginning a slow torturous rhythm of pulling out of her and then pushing back in only about an inch more.

Kate's head was tossing back and forth in aggravation. "Deeper!" she begged.

Juliet watched Kate's reactions studiously as she slowly began to fuck her. When she heard that sweet little voice begging her she dipped her head a little more taking the younger woman's clit between her lips suckling and nibbling roughly and on the next inward stroke drove her fingers in as far as they would go.

Kate's hips lifted off the mattress and she cried out exultantly.

Juliet continued plunging deeply into the brunette, occasionally curling her fingers up to scrape across that especially sensitive place inside of the younger woman that made her jerk. Then she felt Kate's inner muscles begin to twitch around her fingers.

Kate screamed when Juliet's fingers were suddenly yanked out of her. "shhh…" she heard Juliet's soft voice sooth and felt her warm breath blowing on her wet, now tragically exposed clit.

"I-wh-what are you trying to do t-to…?" Kate whined in exasperation then felt Juliet's tongue run up the length of one side of her outer lips quickly jabbing at her clit and then moving down the other side. "I want you to come in my mouth." husked Juliet.

Three things happened next, Kate began wailing as she reached orgasm, she felt Juliet's mouth fasten around her entrance, her tongue lapping up everything the smaller woman had to give her, and Kate felt the ever present tightness in her chest seem to explode as tears began to streak down her cheeks. Then everything else seemed to go away… all she knew was every bit of her skin was prickling with electricity as every muscle in her body tensed her thighs squeezing Juliet's head tightly.

A moment later Kate was surprised to find Juliet lying beside her cradling her face to her bosom and realized she was crying softly. She took several deep breaths trying to regain her equilibrium. She sniffled and realized she was dripping all over Juliet's chest. "Sorry," she mumbled embarrassed, she tried to pull away.

"You're alright." Juliet reassured, tightening her arms around the other woman to keep her still, she wanted to hold her forever, couldn't even comprehend letting her move from where she was resting safely in her arms."I've got you."

Kate swallowed hard, stiffening for a moment before giving in and letting herself melt into the comforting body that wrapped around her own even more fully as she felt Juliet's foot move over her own good one rubbing their ankles together. Then she was shaking as she let herself be consoled by Juliet, her heart swelling with new strange feelings. She began to cry against her lover, her body wracked with little tremors as she let her guard down more than she ever had with another human being.


	12. Chapter 12

Title: experiments part 12

Scribbler:

Spoilers: Sure why not?

Fandom, Pairing and Disclaimer: Kate Austin and Juliet Burke from the masterpiece of a TV Show, that was LOST, which clearly belongs to other powerful wealthy individuals that are not me. I'm just borrowing the Island and its loveliest ladies for this silly and kind of epic story that obviously needs to escape from my rather eccentric and some might say deranged brain.

Rated: R

Scribblers notes: Ok I think I got the out of control can't stop with the smut thing out of my system, so on with the actual story, which is not to say there won't be more sexy times. There definitely will be, probably even in this chapter… who knows?

Silas Jerome Vishnu was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts in the year 1947 to a plumber and a secretary. He was an average kid born in an average city in the United States of America, who lived a painfully average life for his first 26 years…then he met Sarah Anne Carthan and his entire existence was irreversibly altered. He had never read a romance novel in his life but imagined that their whirlwind courtship was probably the stuff that those books were written about.

He had felt as if someone had punched him in the gut completely knocking the wind out of him the first time he saw her working behind the counter of Bea's sandwich shop in the slightly more upscale suburb next door to his hometown. He had been picking up his lunch consisting of a steak and cheese grinder with mushrooms six days a week for the last five years here, but after waiting in line for five minutes he found himself staring at the new girl and inexplicably drawing a complete blank.

She had smiled at him kindly, recognizing how flustered the strange man that was a little older than her was and rescued his dignity by saying, "Ah, you look like a meatball sub kinda fella."

Silas could only swallow hard and nod, his eyes a little large in his head.

"I'm gonna guess extra provolone and onions." She continued to smile gently at him.

Silas had never been overly fond of onions but found all he could do was mutely nod again.

As she was quietly preparing his food she had caught his shy stare a couple of times, causing him to literally shake in his boots and his cheeks to color a little with nerves. He never ordered another steak grinder again and developed quite a taste for onions as he ordered the same thing from her every time he went back there for lunch. It actually took him about a week to come up with the courage to even speak to her, but when he did he couldn't help but ask her if she would consider accompanying him for dinner sometime. They actually had a date that night and four and a half months later just after she turned eighteen they were married.

In his 27 years on this planet he had only ever gone out with two other girls. Silas was a decisive kind of man, who usually knew what he wanted and what he didn't, therefore not wasting anytime on girls just for fun or to get into their pants. As it turned out Sarah was all he wanted or needed. They had been married for two years and had an infant son and another child on the way when they were recruited to the island.

He had finished grad school and had a very promising career ahead of him in engineering. Sarah had been a writer, well she thought that she just dabbled with her silly little stories but Silas knew better. He knew she was quite good and loved reading everything she wrote. He attempted to encourage her to try her hand at it professionally but with the secrecy of the island that would have been difficult. They wouldn't be here forever though and he wanted her to use her time here to perfect her art until they returned to civilization.

Ironically and unfortunately her stories were of a supernatural science fiction nature and when she began incorporating the island's own mystical aspects into her scribbling it did not make those in charge of the Dharma Initiative very happy. After being warned of the non-disclosure agreement in their contract she stopped typing any of her idea's that were based on the island, but continued to keep track of the often strange happenings around them in her private journal.

Silas had suspected it was the chief of security, Christopher, a slightly odd and very paranoid young man that had searched their house and discovered her continuing documentation of the smoke monster, strange magnetic fields and very out of place ghostly polar bears. When they learned there was to be a disciplinarian hearing for Sarah on abuse of breaking the nondisclosure clause in her contract, Silas panicked a little. He had heard rumors of _employees_, who supposedly took the sub home, but in reality had simply disappeared.

They had been on the island for about half of Emmet's life, who was now nearly three. Little Hannah would be a year and a half soon. He didn't know it at the time but Sarah was carrying their third child. His family was what made him begin planning, start making preparations, and see his own normally stalwart steady disposition begin to slowly deteriorate.

PRESENT…

Silas paced like a caged wild animal, back and forth across the small cold era bomb shelter that had become his domicile for the last few decades. He recited Hail Mary's under his breath. Pacing and praying was not strange for a man in his circumstances, he thought to himself, desperately trying to maintain control over his sanity. What he didn't think about was the fact that he had been at this same continuous activity for nearly thirty one hours now. He also hadn't noticed the wet spot that ran down his pant leg or the fact that his legs were on fire with cramps. He just continued to chant the familiar comforting words, only pausing once in a while to pray out loud for Sarah's immortal soul.

God would forgive her; he reasoned to himself, they were fated to be together for eternity he knew as sure as he was breathing. They would be welcomed into the kingdom of the lord hand in hand, he was certain of it.

Juliet opened the front door and went to walk out onto the porch when she suddenly froze, startled by the visage before her. The leftovers she had been about to add to their eggs were scattered all over the porch, the plastic Tupperware she had left their food in was on the ground at the foot of the stairs, practically stomped into the thick mud.

Animals, her brain quickly registered, looking from side to side cautiously before carefully stepping out onto the porch around the mess. The scene before her could only be described as destructive. The leftovers were untouched just lying there thrown around in what appeared to be a deeply distressed fashion…it didn't look like the work of a scavenger.

She started to chalk it up to the storms affect on some wild boar when her eyes settled over the little puddle around one of the plastic covers that was shaped like a shoe, a rather large shoe. She felt herself shiver and pale at the implication. There was someone else here. Someone not them, and whoever it was they didn't appear to be happy.

That's when she found herself suddenly standing next to their bed, looking down with worry at the almost serene picture of undisturbed sleep that was her beautiful lover. She took a deep breath forcing her to calm down, reassured that Kate was safe. She couldn't move away from her for a long few minutes, though, as her head spun with crazy paranoid scenario's that put her love in danger.

When she finally felt she had regained her equilibrium she bent to place a gentle loving kiss on the brunette's forehead, her heart swelling a bit when she saw Kate smile in her sleep. Outside she kept an ever vigilante eye on her surroundings, cleaning up the mess quickly and quietly not wanting to alarm the younger woman before she was sure there was anything to be alarmed about. It was taking all her will to not panic and didn't know if she wanted Kate to experience that feeling in her delicate stage of recovery.

No. She decided she was doing the right thing as she carried the remains of their romantic dinner a little way into the jungle where they composted the few things they let spoil in the location of what would be next year's garden. After dumping the food she went a little further to bury the destroyed remains of the Tupperware.

She was drenched, dripping in point of fact, as she reentered the house. Her scream even startled her own ears as she was pushed up against the now shut outside door. When she felt a set of easily recognizable lips kissing her lips firmly she relaxed a little.

"Kate," She breathed inhaling sharply.

"Were you expecting someone else?" smiled Kate against her lips as her eyes, that had been pinning the other woman's shocked ones, shut lightly.

"You just startled me a little, that's all…"Juliet looked at Kate for a moment gauging the younger woman's reaction to her tiny omission of information regarding the strange scene she had happened upon, on the front porch. Kate's eyes closing and her content and cheery expression reassured her that the younger woman was still alright and not unnecessarily bothered with worrying about anything that might distract her from the rest and recovery time she so badly needed, by what could turn out to be nothing.

Trying to believe she was doing the right thing in not concerning the smaller injured woman with trivialities that were probably nothing, she hugged Kate close.

Kate suddenly shivered, her body that was only covered by Juliet's shirt from the night before, and that was swiftly becoming wet, soaking up the excess water that was dripping of Juliet. "What happened? You decide to go for a swim in your clothes?"

Juliet too, suddenly became aware of how cold she was and how cold she was probably making the smaller woman. Taking her by the shoulders, she pushed Kate back a bit looking her over and then noticed that she wasn't carrying her cane, "Hey, what are you even doing up, and why aren't you using the cane?" She questioned forgetting momentarily about anything else except for taking care of the sometimes flighty younger woman.

Kate rolled her eyes grinning, "I'm not helpless ya know. I got up to feed the fire, and look," She stepped back a little and flexed her ankle flattening her foot against the floor, "See just about good as new."

"I'll be the judge of that." Juliet said moving towards her and wrapping her arm around her waist, under her arms to help support her as they turned back toward the living room. "Come on, let's get dried off and warmed up."

Kate leaned her head and weight on the taller woman happily as she tried to downplay her limp so Juliet wouldn't worry. "You weren't here when I woke up, I was worried."

"I just went out to check the drainpipes and gutters," she lied, "The last thing we need is a flood."

"Yeah, floods bad." She said allowing Juliet to lower her into the arm chair.

Juliet bent to pull her own now damp shirt over Kate's head, noticing she had put on some clean undergarments. She turned and walked to the hall closet returning with a jersey and sweatpants for each of them. She quickly changed herself and then helped the brunette carefully pull the sweats up over her still slightly swollen ankle. "It does look better," she agreed smiling up at Kate from where she knelt on the floor in front of her, gently examining her foot.

"Told ya." Kate smiled.

"Yeah, well your still not 100% and I'm still the doctor, so no overexerting yourself, alright." She instructed looking closely at the other woman to make sure she understood how serious she was.

"Cross my heart." Kate moved her fingers in an X formation across her chest, before leaning down to tug at Juliet's arms pulling her up into the big chair with her.

Juliet laughed loudly trying to pull away, but eventually landing in the younger woman's lap. "Stop it! I'm going to crush you!"

"Mmmmm," The smaller woman's arms went around her and she looked down as the blonde relaxed in her embrace resting her head on Kate's shoulder, "I like feeling you on top of me."

Juliet tensed a little as she watched Kate's hand land on her knee and slowly begin to travel up the inside of her thigh, "Hey, you need to eat." She grabbed Kate's wrist and looked over at the expression in the younger woman's eyes which was indeed hungry, but perhaps not for the shake she intended to make the younger woman drink this morning.

"That sounds like such a good idea," Kate's eyes lit up as she leaned in to nip at the other woman's neck.

Juliet moaned and trembled briefly as Kate's teeth playfully nibbled at her pulse point. She felt Kate squeezing her tighter as the younger woman's tongue ran up her neck to dart into her ear causing her to twitch and push her own body more flush against the brunette's turning a little more into her embrace.

"Kate," she said in a throaty voice.

"What?" the brunette nuzzled her ear softly.

"I meant you need to eat real food." She shuddered.

"I'm not hungry for real food…" Kate's sentence drifted as her breath hit the older woman's especially sensitive spot behind her ear. "I'm hungry for you."

Kate jerked with surprise when the blonde practically jumped from where she was curled up in her arms. "Hey! Come back here!" she argued not happy with the other woman slipping from her grasp.

Juliet reached down to caress the other woman's cheek softly and shook her head, "Nope." She said simply. "First you have to have breakfast."

Kate looked up at her with a needy look in her eyes, "Then I get desert right?"

"We'll see," Juliet smirked wanting nothing more that to give in to the younger woman's clear desires but flashing back on the scene she had been met with earlier outside, knowing that she should remain especially vigilante. "Maybe if you finish your meal."

"Does this meal include some delicious leftovers from last night?" She grinned actually looking like she wanted something to eat.

Juliet turned away and walked through the archway in to the kitchen where she could still here Kate, but the brunette couldn't see her cheeks color with the half truth she was about to give her. "Yeah, sorry, no, we had a visitor last night who had other plans for our leftovers."

"Shit. You didn't put it under the porch?" Juliet could hear the sulk in the other woman's voice.

"I was kind of in a rush to get you drunk and take advantage of you." Juliet said in way of an explanation for her carelessness. She relaxed a little as she poured the powder and water into a glass as that part at least was the complete truth.

Kate heard the spoon clinking in the glass from the other room. "You're not mixing Bloody Mary's in there are you?" she asked suspiciously.

" 'Fraid not," Juliet returned with an apologetic expression handing the other woman the glass.

"Fine," Kate took the glass, "But this is gonna make me all healthy and strong right?"

"Um-hmm" Juliet smiled.

Kate drank the whole thing slowly and steadily her eyes never leaving the blondes. She didn't even make a face as she handed her back the glass with a sweet smile. "Don't be surprised when I sneak up on you and tackle your ass with my vitamin drink superpowers."

Juliet took the glass with a small guffaw, "Crap, why do I get the distinct impression I've created a monster?"

"Yeah a monster who could take you before the superpowers," Kate narrowed her eyes menacingly.

Juliet gazed at her feeling herself growing excited at the notion of Kate overpowering her. "Yeah well the only reason you could take me before is they didn't teach mud wrestling at Harvard." She turned to walk back into the kitchen to prepare breakfast before she completely lost the battle with her hormones which were put into hyper drive just looking at her sexy partner.

"That's too bad you looked so good covered in mud." Kate teased.

Juliet began mixing the powdered eggs. "You didn't mention that then."

"I got distracted when I thought I broke you." Kate explained.

"You did break me."Juliet said, "Do you want the leftover canned veggies mixed in with the eggs or on the side?"

"Just throw it all together." Kate answered.

"Good that's quicker and easier." Juliet grabbed a frying pan and oiled it carrying it back into the fire to heat it up for the eggs.

"Quicker is good." Kate stretched her good leg out to touch Juliet's ass with her toe as the blonde walked back past her back into the kitchen."

"Hey!" Juliet jumped, "Watch it lady!"

"Oh I am," Kate smiled staring at her ass as Juliet let the room.

"Like I said… incorrigible," Juliet laughed bringing the mixing bowl in, carefully walking out of range of any wandering toes.

Silas was dreaming, he was lying in the middle of the floor of the 20 by 15 room, where he had finally dropped. He was reliving when Sarah and he had buried Emmett in the jungle next to where they had put their stillborn to rest. His wife had been so quiet since they found 6 year old Emmett washed up on the beach. He himself had felt as if something inside him had snapped at the sight of his boy's body battered and broken lying in the sand at his feet.

There had been a deep wailing coming from his wife's lungs as she attempted to perform CPR on the boy, but he had just stood there, completely and painfully aware that there would be no use in lifesaving efforts. Emmett was gone and definitely not coming back by the look of the twisted shell he left behind.

He had tried to get Sarah to talk while they dug the hole to lay their boy to rest next to his little brother, but the woman seemed to be gone off somewhere private, somewhere he couldn't reach her. He was mortified when she had lost the baby, he didn't know if he could go on when Emmett left them but when Sarah withdrew he knew he was lost.

Little Hannah was only five but she seemed to understand what was happening here better than either of her parents as she drew a cross in the dirt the covered her big brother in. What she said then had stayed with Silas, her words forever echoing in his mind.

"Emmett is home now."

'


	13. Chapter 13

Title: experiments part 13

Scribbler:

Fandom: Lost

Pairing: Kate/Juliet

Disclaimers: I do not own lost or its characters this is strictly for fun.

Warning: Computer idiot is writing this. To those of you who have been reading this for a while, well you probably already figured this out. For the poor soul who likes the story but can't figure out the order… my apologies. Follow the numbers not parts and chapters since they're the same thing I just use chapter when I screw up posting it the first time. The last time I tried to post (12) the evil and wonderful machine said I ran out of space so I kind of tried to consolidate, although apparently I didn't do that correctly since there is now one part 12 with one through eleven in it and one chapter 12 that actually is the 12th installment. Again apologies but in all honesty I had pretty much never touched a computer before six months ago. I'm at that wonderful age where they started teaching computers like halfway through my senior year in high school and I thought I could actually avoid them altogether. I am trying to do better, but you may now shout at me for not warning you in the first place.

Scribbler's note: Alright with all that unpleasantness out of the way I'd like to express my happiness with the way this chapter came out and just say I hope you enjoy it.

Kate was looking through one of the books they had found on botany. She was trying to figure out what would grow the best in their climate. She was feeling a bit frustrated and nervous at the way Juliet had run off this morning after breakfast, after listing a bunch of chores that needed doing and throwing on a rain slicker. She was right about the work needing to be done, but Kate wondered if that was all that was on the blondes mind.

She remembered the way she had broken down this morning. Juliet had been nothing but supportive, holding her while she cried herself to sleep without a second thought to her own needs, but when Kate had tried to make it up to her later, the blonde was standoffish and distant. Maybe she was rethinking this whole thing, maybe she realized that Kate was just too much of a basket case to deal with.

Standing up too quickly she yelped when she put all her weight on her bad ankle without thinking. "God Damn," She snarled, also feeling all kinds of useless as Juliet seemed to be carrying all the weight in this new-relationship?

'_Classic Kate,'_ she railed at herself in angry silence, '_always taking those leap's before thinking anything through._' Glancing out the window to note that dusk was closing in, she grabbed the stupid cane and limped out to the kitchen to make dinner. She could at least do that.

'_I'm such an idiot. What possessed me to, to-well fall apart on my lover less than 24 hours into our relationship?' _She began wandering around the kitchen looking for something that she knew the blonde would enjoy. Already feeling defeated as she thought back on last night's dinner, definitely the best meal they had had since they had disappeared from reality, arguably even better than Hurley's meatloaf, which was, hands down, her favorite.

Finally with a sigh she decided she couldn't do too much damage to tuna helper or at least her version, with the ingredients from a 70's pantry. Juliet had told Kate her guilty secret of a deep abiding affection for the 'Helper's' She was so cute, blushing and laughing at her own joke of needing all the help she could get when it came to preparing herself a meal. She envisioned Juliet's shy grin as she defended her taste in fine cuisine, as if she were standing there before her this very moment. She knew Juliet was the only face she had seen in over six months now, but still wondered at how well she had every one of her flawless features memorized. Closing her eyes she couldn't even picture the face of her mother as clearly as Juliet's.

As she put the pan on the heat to start cooking she thought of the jar of veggies, she had seen their was about a quarter of it left and with the weird hot and cold the weather was throwing at them, even in the hole, probably needed to be used. She glanced over at the cane annoyed with the weakness it represented. Thinking it more trouble than it worth, she limped quickly across the kitchen like a little kid sneaking to the cookie jar and not wanting to get caught.

She walked out on the front porch and carefully went down the stairs, gripping the railing, all too aware of how slippery they currently were. The storm was definitely picking up speed again. She was drenched before she knelt down next the frame built around the wide three steps that made up the staircase, prying the lattice away where she had cut it to dig the hole. She pulled the thick laundry sac they had filled with dirt off the square piece of wood that used to be a cabinet door they used for a cover to their little fridge.

She noted that the bag of dirt was still pretty dry under its shelter. She smiled, a little self satisfied, that she had been right when she had told the blonde it wouldn't turn into a mud puddle in cloth dripping all over there perishables. When she reached down to feel around for the jar she jerked her hand back with a loud squeak as she felt her left index finger sliced by something sharp.

Instinctually shoving her finger into her mouth she sucked hard trying to numb the bleeding cut. "Shit," she said crawling further under the porch and pulling the flashlight from her sweatshirt pocket. Awkwardly she bent low under the porch over the hole. She was disturbed when she saw the jar had been haphazardly dropped and smashed. That was not like Juliet, there was definitely something wrong. She only hoped it wasn't _her_ that was wrong_._

Juliet seemed to suddenly notice that it had gotten dark…Kate would be worried. She decided to make one more quick stealthy circle around the general perimeter of the house her hand tightening around the pistol she had tucked in the waist band of her jeans, concealed by the rain slicker. She had decided not to mention the gun to the brunette at first for fear she might use it on her…she laughed to herself silently. Then everything just seemed to be a blur of emotions and life threatening drama that had made her nearly forget about it existence entirely. She was now very glad she had it.

She had always hated guns, seeing the damage they could inflict a little too up close and personal during medical school and her residency. Looking at them used to make her nervous, but with Kate to protect all she felt now was relief. She had never thought herself a Killer, but thinking back to Danny, she realized there really wasn't anything she wouldn't do to keep the younger woman safe.

When she made her way back to the house she knew right away she was in trouble when she found Kate leaning against the kitchen counter her arms folded across her chest tensely.

"Where were you?" Kate said a little coldly.

Juliet pulled her slicker over her head not wanting to get the other woman all wet again, tossing it over the back of one of the kitchen chairs, she automatically gravitated toward Kate, but when she put her hands on the brunette's hips, she felt the other woman stiffen in her grasp.

Kate looked down at the floor embarrassed, "I was afraid you weren't coming back."

Juliet frowned confused and pulled Kate into her arms surprised when the brunette who had been all over her that afternoon jerked out of her arms, turning away.

"It's ok…you don't have to do that. I just don't want you to leave." She mumbled cursing at herself for the tightness she detected in her own voice.

"Kate?" Juliet asked mystified, "What are you talking about?"

"I know I wigged out, I don't blame you, you could certainly do much better than a basket case like me." She sighed, "It's just I don't want to lose this, you…being my friend. Please-don't leave me alone."

"Oh Kate," Juliet said wrapping her arms around the other woman from behind and pulling her back flush against her front, understanding the other's insecurity and cursed her own insensitivity. Kate had completely broken down in front of her early this morning, probably letting Juliet in much more than she was comfortable with, and what had Juliet done…she left her there to stew in her own worries. She had just been so worried that someone was out there wanting to hurt her love, "Baby, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…I mean I love that you _wigged_ out on me, that you felt that secure with me, comfortable to be yourself with me."

Kate melted back into her lover's soft comforting embrace, wallowing in relief. "I thought-"she began and stopped when she felt Juliet's lips kissing the back of her neck. Grinning to herself she pulled away and took Juliet's hand leading her into the other room. She put her hand up and covered Juliet's lips that were leaning in to kiss her when she turned around to face her. "Oh no you don't," She teased.

"Huh?" Juliet murmured flustered into Kate's hand.

"Dinner first." Kate grinned enjoying doling out a little of the doctors own medicine.

"But," Juliet looked her in the eye with so much need Kate almost lost it when her warm full lips pressed against her palm.

"No way Burke, " She limped around the dumbfounded blonde to sit on the floor next to the fire scooping some pasta into her bowl and handing it to the blonde who was now kneeling next to her. "You're gonna need to this eat this…" she winked, " to keep your energy up for tonight."

Juliet smiled, accepting the bowl but studying the younger woman closely. "You were scared." She said regretfully and watched Kate lower her head self consciously. "I scared you."

Kate chewed at her lip nervously, "Don't…"

"Kate, I just wanted to make sure you would be safe." Juliet said seriously.

"Alright." Kate said softly and looked up at the older woman knowing that was the first whole truth she'd her from her all day. "Is that why you have the gun?"

Juliet glanced down at her waistband nervously, "How did you-?"

Kate met her eyes evenly. "Juliet, please tell me what's going on."

Juliet took another bite of her food chewing it thoughtfully before swallowing and speaking. "I had the gun from the beginning; I almost threw it in the ocean when I realized we were trapped here alone. I thought you might-"

Kate watched her carefully, "You thought I might try to use it against you."

"Kate, I didn't think…I didn't know you could ever feel the same as me….I thought you hated me." She shoved another bite in her mouth looking down at her lap as she chewed; wanting to stall the conversation she knew was coming.

Kate moved closer to the blonde cupping her chin and lifting her eyes up to meet hers. "You know when I started 'dieting'?" Kate smiled at her own choice of words hoping to lighten the mood.

"Yeah," Juliet swallowed hard and took a drink out the water bottle Kate had left in here earlier.

"That was pretty dumb, right?" Kate stroked the other woman's cheek looking her right in the eyes.

"That was really idiotic." Juliet corrected in a deadpan voice.

"Fair enough," Kate continued to smile. "But now there's something…something you're not telling me and it's scaring me, I thought you didn't want to be with me." The last part was said in a choked voice and it took all Kate's will to continue to meet the blonde's ashamed gaze.

Juliet hastily discarded her nearly untouched bowl of food and wrapped her arms around Kate nearly pulling the smaller woman into her lap. "I was being an idiot too." She confessed pressing her face into Kate's hair.

"Ok," Kate rubbed small circles on Juliet's lower back reassuringly, "We're both idiots then…see common ground?"

Juliet laughed and was left a bit thrown by the power this beautiful young woman had to change her mood on a dime. "I love you Kate Austin."

Kate tightened her arms around Juliet, pushing her hair out of the way with her nose unwilling to let go of the other woman for even a second before she leaned into her ear to whisper, "I love you too."

They stayed there for a long time, holding one another each with their own dire need . Kate kissed her way across her cheek and then leaned back a little to meet the blondes tear filled eyes before leaning in maintaining her gaze as she took Juliet's lower lip between her own suckling lightly before moving up to put a little more pressure against her mouth with her own.

Juliet couldn't help herself when she opened her mouth for Kate's hungry penetrating tongue. She didn't try to stop her when the younger woman pushed her to floor and began impatiently yanking at her clothes. She did her best to assist the brunette in undressing her but she was way ahead of her at every turn. The look in her eyes was frantic.

Kate finally got her boots off awkwardly as she kissed the other woman's lower stomach. She carefully took the gun from her waistband putting it aside and then after undoing her jeans with a few rough tugs she removed them and her panties.

Juliet was frozen as she stared up at the other woman who kneeled over her and actually felt the brunette's eyes devouring her as they raked over her now entirely naked form in the soft light of the fire.

"God I want you," Kate said and the intensity and sincerity of her words caused chills to run down Juliet's spine and goose bumps to cover her now slightly cold body. She watched with rapt attention as Kate quickly discarded her own clothes.

Kate noted her shiver and reached up to grab the comforter she had neatly folded at the foot of the box spring and mattress. She moved the dishes off the rug that they now occupied and lying down on top of the other woman, pulled the quilt up over both of them. Laying her head in the crook of Juliet's neck her lips pressed lightly, lovingly against her pulse point. "I missed you." The younger woman said in a gentle tone.

Juliet lifter her head a little pulling softly at the handful of dark tendrils she now grasped until their eyes met. "You are so beautiful." She said her voice filled with emotion.

Then Kate was kissing her again cradling her lovers head as she carefully lowered it back to the floor.

"Mmmmm…" Juliet moaned languidly into her partner's mouth.

Kate thought it strange at how much she felt the need to pleasure the other woman. She had never felt that need with any of the men she had been with. That had been, pretty much, all about satisfying her desires. Needless to say, none of said men, had any objection to that. But with Juliet, well it was like she craved seeing the sated content look on her face at least as much as she wanted to be wearing a similar look of her own.

Juliet mewled softly when she felt Kate's small open mouthed kisses moving down her chin and beyond to her throat.

Kate licked at the soft flesh when she more felt than saw Juliet swallow hard. Feeling the older woman now trembling hard at her tender ministrations she slid one hand down her side sensuously. Putting her knees on either side of Juliet she lifted her hips a little to give herself room to reach between the blondes legs with one hand. "Oooohhhhh." Kate sighed as she ran her fingers through Juliet's very plentiful arousal. She moved her lips up to Juliet's ear. "You're on fire baby."

Juliet's hips arched up seeking more contact with those almost too gentle fingers. "Ungg…yes, I can't get enough of you."

Kate moved the hand that was still cradling her head around to caress her face still leaning her weight on that elbow. "You want more of me?" she brushed the golden locks off her face and leaned down to kiss her chastely watching her, and with her mind, willing the blonde to open her eyes and look at her.

When Juliet did she could only look at the other woman helplessly and nod.

Kate slipped her index and middle finger into her lover causing her to arch her back closing her eyes again as her head fell sideways against the floor. "Kaaaate." She groaned as she felt Kate's entire forearm pull back and then pushing forth again, her slender fingers entering her once more.

"Mmmm…I'm here." She leaned down to take a rock hard nipple into her mouth as she began a slow thrusting in and out motion with her fingers. "God, I love how wet you get for me," she whispered against the soft skin between her breasts when she felt a fresh rush of hot moisture escaping her beautiful lover and coating her palm. When she took the other nipple in her mouth she felt Juliet's tight inner muscles begin to grasp at her fingers and knew she was close…too close. While she had intentionally avoided that bundle of nerves that would drive her lover crazy she knew it didn't matter Juliet was about to come anyway. She stopped her fingers leaving them resting deep inside of her, fingers curled and just resting against that special spot, causing the blonde to almost growl with frustration, when she tried to pump her hips up into Kate's hand and the younger woman used her whole body to steady her.

Juliet felt like she was losing her mind, all of her senses were focused on the digits ever so gently invading her body, and when the pleasurable rhythm the younger woman had set up ceased she cried out at the loss. "Don't stop!" she whimpered breathlessly.

"Shhh…" Kate soothed kissing down the taller woman's tight abdomen.

"Kate, I'm so close." She practically sobbed.

"I know honey, but you have to be patient for me, alright?" Kate glanced up at Juliet's wide desperate eyes.

"Anything…" She husked meeting the brunette's eyes with her own lust filled ones. "For you."

"Good girl." Kate smiled and began kissing down her torso again; her fingers still remaining stationary inside of the blonde.

When she got low enough to inhale the other woman's earthy rich scent she moaned hungrily darting her tongue out to just dab at her clit. "Mmmm….god you're so tasty."

"Ohhh…" Juliet gasped beginning to pant as Kate's lips wrapped around her clit, her tongue massaging it gently. Then she was coming, grabbing the back of Kate's head with one hand the other gripping the rug like a lifeline to reality. Her eyes were squeezed shut as pins and needles flowed through every nerve in her body.

When she opened her eyes she felt Kate stroking her inner thigh with her cheek. "God that was good." She said between gasps as her now boneless body lay there still.

Kate turned her head to kiss her damp thigh tenderly and smiled, "Yeah it was." She licked her skin seductively.

Juliet clenched feeling another wave move through her body. When she had caught her breath she pulled the younger woman up into her arms. She kissed her lips softly, sighing at her own taste on them. "There's someone else here." She said simply watching Kate's reaction carefully.

Hannah sat the shore of the small lake next to her mother weaving her side of the blanket they were working on. Sarah had noticed how quiet the young woman had been lately but not wanting to press her daughter had let it go, she knew something was bothering her but didn't want to be the nosy mother.

"Hannah, what is it?" she asked finally unable to conceal her concern any longer.

Hannah stopped her weaving but didn't look up at the older woman. "Nothing," She answered quietly.

"Is it Gowan?" She hesitated knowing Hannah got uncomfortable with the subject of the other young woman that so clearly owned her daughters heart.

Hannah blushed but shook her head. "I have to tell you something."

She dropped her side of the blanket in her lap and gave her child her undivided attention. "What's the matter dear?"

Hannah seemed to take a deep bracing breath and then met her mother's eyes and began explaining what had her so upset. "I saw father."

"What?" Sarah practically leapt to her feet in a deceivingly agile way that conflicted with her actual age.

Hannah dipped her head in shame. "I-I was worried."

Sarah paced angrily back and forth on the beach for a moment before regaining her composure. When she squatted down next to her daughter and the younger woman met her gaze with tears in her eyes, she felt her own resolve weaken. "Hannah, you know how dangerous it is to leave the boundaries." She reached out a hand to run through her daughters long wild dark locks trying to reassure and caution at the same time.

"Father's very upset," the younger woman swallowed her tears back stubbornly.

Sarah sighed heavily sitting back down on the sand next to her daughter once more. She could not be angry with her, she never could, really. Not when her poor child being trapped here was Sarah's own doing. Not that here was all bad. They were at least safe here, behind the boundaries, with their friends…their family now.

"Tell me child, why are you concerned for your father?" she asked gently.

"I'm afraid."

"No." Sarah turned to pull her daughter into her arms. "No silly. Your father is not well…but he would never hurt you, never." She explained vehemently knowing it to be the absolute truth, the only thing she was sure about when it came to the man she had vowed to spend the rest of her life with so long ago. He would die himself before he allowed any harm to come to his only surviving child, of this she was certain. Sadly she was also certain that the same man she had loved so much, still loved so in fact, was not in his right mind and never would be again.

When Emmett died she wanted to die too. If it wasn't for Hannah she knew she would have ended her existence then and there. But thanks to Hannah and the people that were like them taken here from different times in the Islands history to live peacefully behind the boundary, she knew she had a reason to live.

"I know mamma," The younger woman said softly pulling back a little. "I'm afraid he's going to something bad to _them_."

Misunderstanding her child again she shook her head. "He won't come here. He's too afraid, you know that." She thought back to when the ones that were trapped like them had first come to make contact and invite them into the shelter of the boundary. Silas had already begun to become irrational when the other inhabitants of the island came to them to explain how they had all come here under similar circumstances and were similarly trapped he had been convinced it was just another evil trick of the island.

"Not our people…the new ones."

"What?" Sarah froze staring at her daughter.

"There are new people." She stated simply.

"Hannah." She grabbed her daughter by the shoulders. "Are you certain?"

"I saw them. Two women, they came with the houses."

"What? What houses." She knew she was holding Hannah's shoulders too tightly but couldn't help herself as she grasped her even tighter.

"They appeared a while ago." Hannah explained guiltily bowing her head.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Sarah cried.

"Because of what _they did_… when those mean people came." Hannah huffed trying not to cry.

"The mean people were different, they were like your father. They didn't want our help. They would have only made things worse. These new ones ,they may want our help or need it." Sarah hugged her daughter again closely before standing to stalk determinedly back towards the shelters.

"Mother?" Hannah called after her in a small voice.

Sarah paused to look down at the ground.

"I'm sorry." Hannah said sincerely.

"I know sweetie," she forced herself to smile at her child reassuringly, "It'll be alright."

When Silas had woken to find the state he was in, he was only concerned briefly. Getting back up steadily to his feet with a new happy determination to his thoughts he knew now everything would be alright. God had showed him the way while he slept and knowing now what he must do he was overwhelmed with relief. Sarah would simply have to slay her demon and then she would be free to return to him and their heavenly father. He merely needed to explain that to her and they would be together again.


	14. Chapter 14

Title: experiments part 14

Scribbler:

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost, I'm just borrowing Kate and Juliet, however all the highly unbalanced and slightly damaged extra characters…well yeah, that's all me.

Fandom and Pairing: LOST-Kate Austin/Juliet Burke

Scribblers Notes: sorry this took so long, my bad.

When Juliet had pulled her up into her arms clinging desperately to her and Kate had covered them both once again with the quilt, pulling Juliet's cheek to her breast, wanting to give her a safe soft place to come down on.

When she finally caught her breath, Juliet explained quickly about the scene she had happened upon outside this afternoon. She apologized for not telling her in the first place, trying to make her understand that it had only been her concern that it would hinder her getting better if she had to worry about the seeming threat of an angry someone else or s omeone elses in their midst.

Kate, to her credit fought down her annoyance with the older woman. She knew Juliet was only trying to protect her, keeping her breathing even she rested her hand lightly on the taller woman's soft tummy in an effort to give Juliet her understanding and support which she clearly needed . "Well now," she said leaning up on her elbow to look down at the other woman, a tiny smirk on her face, "the plot thickens, huh?"

"It appears that way." Juliet smiled back at her guiltily. "Are you pissed off that I didn't tell you right away?"

"Pissed off is such a harsh way to put it," Kate smiled leaning down to kiss her cheek sweetly, "Let's go with irritated or maybe exasperated, yeah that's it- exasperated with your weird overprotective streak."

Juliet stiffened and looked up at the brunette, "It's not weird!" She said defensively, "Its normal!"

"Not where I grew up…" Kate laughed a little bitterly.

"Yeah well I didn't grow up on the set of Deliverance." She teased a sympathetic expression covering her face, as she stroked Kate's thick curls.

"What's Deliverance?" Kate asked sincerely.

"Please tell me you're kidding." Juliet looked at the brunette a little horrified before noticing the complete baffled expression in Kate's eyes. Rolling her eyes and shutting them with a deep sigh. "You are really are over thirty right?" She asked a little shamed and aware that she was already growing a bit of a complex over their age difference.

"Almost 31 as a matter of fact!" she said indignantly. "What's that got to do with it?"

Juliet opened her eyes to gaze adoringly up at the younger woman. "You're so damned cute," she reached up to actually grip her cheek in a bit of a pinch before she cupped it tenderly, "If only you weren't quite so aware of that." She sighed a bit ruefully.

"Duh, of course I know that," Kate answered with a cockily lopsided grin, "Sometimes it's kind of a curse- really." The brunette added smugly placing her own hand over Juliet's and pressing her cheek into it . "So what's Deliverance?"

"A very old movie, you know _movie_, in the era of theatres and VHS." Juliet explained.

"V-H-what?" Kate taunted trying to keep a straight face.

Juliet slid her hand she had resting on the other woman's shoulder down her side and playfully swatted her on the rump. "God, you're a brat."

"Oww!" Kate squeaked startled. "Did you just spank me?"

"Yup." She responded calmly, "Now Deliverance was a movie about rednecks with very few social graces and slight attitude problems."

"You did not just call me a redneck with an attitude problem." She said her eyes wide and tone overly offended.

"Uhmmm…yeah I think I kinda did." Juliet furrowed her brow thoughtfully meeting Kate's gaze confidently.

"Clearly, you never want to get laid again." Kate said evenly in a distinctively confident tone.

"Hey," Juliet smiled pleadingly, "I also said you were damned cute."

"Yeah well cute redneck with attitude issues is not nearly as flattering as you might imagine, _Dr. Burke."_

"I'm sorry baby, what I meant to say was not terribly sophisticated, sometimes slightly excitable amazingly stunning young woman who I am head over heels in love with." She amended.

"I'm plenty sophisticated, and I wouldn't use the word excitable." Kate lay back down on the floor turning her back on the other woman to watch the slowly dying fire.

Juliet rolled over to spoon the smaller woman from behind; she wrapped one of her arms around the brunette's waist consolingly, as she leaned up on her other elbow to look down at the other woman's pouting face. Leaning in she nuzzled her hair. "You are very sophisticated." She further corrected herself.

"And…?" Kate sulked expectantly.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling her hot breath through the younger woman's hair close to her ear she spoke carefully in a diplomatic tone, "Kate, you kissed me, just kissed me and got so upset, you ran out into practically a hurricane and almost died. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say you're excitable." Juliet explained in a gentle jibe, stroking her hip reassuringly.

"Yeah, well.." she smiled a little despite herself, "you didn't kiss me back."

Juliet tightened her arm that was thrown around her and pulled her closer against her body. God she loved the way it felt to hold the other woman in her arms, "I wanted to."

"How was I supposed to know that?" Kate shut her eyes blushing, a little embarrassed at the turn the conversation was taking.

"Baby, you ran away before I could even catch my breath," she explained gently pulling the soft brown curls out of her way so she could lay her cheek against the younger woman's. "It's not my fault you're an incredible kisser."

Kate's face glowed with the compliment and couldn't help but snuggle back further into the blonde's comfortable embrace. "You are very smooth Juliet."

"No one ever said that to me before," Juliet's own smile matched the other woman's flattered one. She leaned a little back and rubbed her cheek against the baby soft curls she found at the base of her neck. She loved that spot, well she loved most of the spots, but that one made her want to just cling to the younger woman and never let her go.

"So what do we do now?" Kate asked forcing her attention from what the other woman's hand on her hip and faces smoothing against her neck, were doing to her concentration.

"Well." Juliet rested her cheek on Kate's bare shoulder, "We lock the front door, keep the gun close, and I continue to be unbearably overprotective."

Juliet felt Kate shiver a little, "I didn't say it was unbearable." The brunette giggled, loving the way Juliet's taller body practically enveloped her.

"No, just weird," Juliet muttered into her soft skin.

"If I tell you something will you promise not to endlessly make fun of me for it?" Kate asked hesitantly.

"I wouldn't endlessly make fun of you for anything lover." Juliet promised laughing a little before changing her tone to playful, "Maybe tease a little, but…"

"Forget it," Kate grunted dismissively.

Juliet moved her hand around from where it rested on the beautiful other woman's hip to rest on her flat stomach and then slowly slid it up to cup her breast. "Please tell me." She murmured imploringly, placing a loving kiss against the back of Kate's shoulder.

Kate trembled at the touch and knew she was once again being handled but answered her anyway, smiling shyly, "I kind of like it when you're so overprotective."

"Do you baby?" Juliet asked and Kate could hear how happy her sentiment made the other woman.

"No one ever…" Kate began and feeling her voice get a little thick cleared her throat and said shortly, "Well I just like it."

"Good." Juliet said sitting up and pushing the other woman around to where he was lying on her back and looking up at her, "Because, I might not be able to stop, you know how us old weird fuddy duddy's get."

Juliet's self deprecating confession made Kate laugh. Her laugh died down when her eyes began to scan down Juliet's naked torso. "Uhmmm, but you know your one hell of a sexy weird old fuddy duddy."

Juliet grabbed her wrist as she saw Kate reaching up towards her breast. "I need to get some wood to feed the fire." She said smirking down at the renewed desire she saw filling the brunette's eyes.

Sitting up quickly Kate stole a quick kiss reaching around her to grab the gun. She grinned widely, "I'll watch the front." She said in her best tough ass don't fuck with me voice.

"I locked the door, but you do that." Juliet said amused rising to pull her sweat pants on and noticed Kate's regretful gaze. She gave her a lifted eyebrow and dropped the sweatshirt leaving her upper half uncovered as she moved into the kitchen toward the door to the basement where they kept the dry wood they had stockpiled, maybe a little overzealously, considering there was little more than a couple of paths of space to get to the canned and dry goods.

"Mmmm…" Kate leered appreciatively after her gorgeous blonde. "That's how you should always walk around." She raised her voice at Juliet's laugh as it faded from her ears.

She sat there for a moment staring at the gun in her hand a little disconcerted. Then with a determined look set it back down on the floor to stir the coals and put the pot back on the grill. She didn't know about Juliet but she was famished.

Silas was deep in preparations for the return of his wife. Once he showed her she was forgiven he was sure she would come back to him and bring their baby girl with her. How old would Hannah be now? That was the part he found almost unforgivable. When she had stolen his last child from him, he had not fought it, knowing the girl needed her mother, no matter how faulty her thinking had been on the whole situation of going away in the first place. He smiled happily as he cleaned up around the place that had once been their home, and now was he had to admit in a bit of a shambles. He knew he was sporting a big silly grin at the thought of seeing his beautiful little girl once again. She must be- well he wasn't quite sure how old his little girl was now but it didn't matter they would all be back together again soon.

All Sarah had to do was defeat the evil woman who had obviously entranced her. He knew she could do it. She was the strongest person he had ever met. Once that was over he had no doubt they would be returned to their own place and time or at least would be content to be here together. They would wait patiently for their heavenly lord to take them home where Emmett and the child they had been planning to name William after Silas' father, waited patiently for their parents to ascend to heaven and join them.

He knew it would be hard for him to hurt anyone, he had never felt aggressive toward anyone, actually quite the opposite, raised with an unfaltering Catholic upbringing he rarely felt anger or the need for violence. He would never willingly hurt another one of God's beautiful creatures, but it was clear that this lunatic who had some strange hold over his innocent wife was not one of God's creatures, obviously quite the opposite from what he had seen of her manipulative use of the pleasures of the flesh to distract his beautiful wife from the real truth. The truth of where she belonged, and to whom.

No he would not be unhappy when Sarah became aware of the real extent of her sinful ways. How utterly wrong and evil what she had been doing was. He knew she would be ashamed, and he would do everything he could to reassure her that her mistakes only made her human and with her repentance and service to her husband and lord sh would be forgiven. The young vixen that now held her against her will would be vanquished by Sarah's own hand and then his beautiful Sarah would be alright.

He had been so sad when Sarah had chosen the godless ones who seemed to influence her so greatly. He had not, however, given up the idea of Sarah and Hannah returning to him and their true path. He just had to be patient. He felt tears begin to fall over his cheeks and gave God a silent prayer of thanks that his patience had been rewarded, as he began to laugh a bit maniacally.

He looked up at the wall where he kept his little shrine to his family for when he felt his faith slipping. His 12 by 10 inch family portrait of Sarah, himself and little Emmet, taken at sears right before they left for the island had gotten him through many a doubt filled night. It was so worn and faded you had to look closely to see the faded images of their faces. Sarah was pregnant with Hannah and the glow that people spoke of when they mentioned pregnant women was so apparent it made him smile affectionately every time he saw it. He also had two photos of Emmett playing, blissfully ignorant, of the clear but unpleasant design God had for them. The sonogram of Hannah always made his breath hitch and the two baby pictures they had of his darling little girl brought a sparkle to his eye every time he glanced at them…he had enjoyed many dreams of her wedding, where he would give her away to a righteous and godly man.

Now that dream once again seemed to become something he could imagine actually happening. When they would be returned to real life in the little city they had originated from in Massachusetts. They would pass the test his creator had set up for them and would all be together once more to revel in their happiness. He even sometimes let his thoughts wander to a place where none of this happened and he had two strong sons that god had allowed him to keep due to his diligence and faith.

With a harsh grin he began to climb the ladder that was very similar to the ones in all the hatches. He chuckled softly under his breath, as he ascended to his father's testing ground, he had failed before but with renewed confidence knew that couldn't happen again, not when what was at stake was getting his family back.

Hannah paced impatiently outside the elder, Markus', hut. Her mother had been in there too long and she knew it was not just her and the oldest man here …It was all of them, all of the ones that had been here long enough to be considered authority figures. She stopped short of the tree line behind the house when she felt a familiar set of arms encircle her.

"What unsettles you?" Gowan whispered concerned into the other woman's ear.

Hannah stopped dead. She felt herself respond to that familiar comforting voice, the one that made her want to still wake up every morning. Hannah had known nothing but confusion and pain in her life until she had experienced Gowan's light gentle loving touch. Gowan was younger than her by a few years but was wiser than her beyond measure. Hannah never doubted for a moment when her love told her that everything would be alright. That Gowan would take care of her, take care of everything.

"I told them," She said in a small voice.

"You did the- correct thing." The darker woman affirmed reassuringly, "You knew it was necessary. It hurts me when you are not- here with me, when your mind wanders to the inconsequential."

Gowan felt the older woman tense in her arms and knew their only disagreement was about to make them both very unhappy with one another. "You know I only want you to be happy."

Hannah wrestled herself out of her lover's arms. "He's still my bringer of life." She said quoting the other woman. "Do you expect me to just forget about him?"

"I know you love him, he's you're pa-rent." Gowan's words were a little awkward.

"Father," Hannah turned around to face the dark skinned younger woman, "I have to make sure he does not do what he will be sorry for."

"You are wrapped up in your Landow again." She said sadly.

Hannah looked at the ground knowing how close that her lover was to her own father Landow, "What would you do if you were not able to spend time with your own father?" Hannah moved deeper into the forest, more than a little uncomfortable and fearing someone else might hear. She knew how the other ones felt about her father and that they only allowed him to exist in deference to Sarah and Hannah.

Gowan looked at the older woman's strong back and the curves of her familiar form that made her lose a little of herself each night, she had long since known that this was the way of things, that Hannah was her way. "'Uncle Sim tells me I have given you all that I have to give." The older woman felt herself being spun around.

Hannah pried herself from the other woman's grasp as she turned to face her. "Gowan, I also give you everything that I am!" she said insistently.

Gowan's lips claimed hers even as she pushed her unseeing partner backwards further into the wilderness. She took charge of her as she carefully watched out for outcroppings or heavy roots that might trip the smaller woman, carefully steering her out of danger's path (she maybe, by accident, might have lost track of their surrounding so she could catch the older woman, once or twice in her confident muscular arms . She would never be able to give her breathtaking Hannah anything that was enough to make their time together even remotely equal...Hannah had always taken care of them, even when they were small. The fact that Gowan's life would be empty and void of any happiness without the pale dark haired beauty was so clear to the younger woman that her chest ached at the thought.

"Oh …" Hannah sighed as she felt Gowan's lips meet her own. When her back met with the thick trunk of a tree she began giggling, "Oww!" Gowan's mouth had moved down to her partners shoulder biting her hard.

"You make me do strange things." Gowan lifted her face to meet the beautiful pale eyes that met her own, before bowing her head once more to soothe the bite with her tongue. "Did I hurt you, my Hannah?"

"You have never hurt me Gowan, and I know you never will." She knew the words still were odd to her, even as they grew up similarly in the same place. The languages they spoke were formed from their parents, all from the same place, but light years from each other's beliefs.

"This makes me smile." Gowan said simply moving in to nuzzle the other woman's neck.

"You make me feel so good…can this be real, can this be you touching me?" Hannah squeezed her thighs together in an effort to quell her want, and avoid thinking of the wonderful things she knew Gowan wanted to do to her right here and now.

"I still do not understand why you ask me this?" The dark skinned taller woman lifted her head from her lover's shoulder looking confused and a little vexed. "Of course I am here… with you. It would not be right any other way." Gowan said looking straight into her eyes and sounding as if she were talking to a small child.

Gowan knew this to be true. Her Landow had explained to her she would find what she wanted and needed in their village, no matter what villiage they found themselves in, for that was the way the spirits intended. He got so upset when Gowan told him that she had, with Hannah. He paced and circled her form flustered at if being at a loss to explain this to his daughter, he so wished Vivian could be here to take care of this particular aspect of raising their child. He had sent her to one of the older women, and prayed to the god of understanding that he would be heard.

Hannah laughed lightly reaching up to cup the younger woman's cheek. The sheer innocence and logic of her statement made Hannah's heart swell, making her know that love _was_ possible and she had found it in the arms of someone that by the very laws of nature should never have crossed her path.

Gowan watched the faraway bemused look in Hannah's eyes with a mixture of worry and interest as she turned her head slightly so her parted lips met Hannah's open palm. She kept her eyes glued to the beautiful woman's face for any negative reaction. They had been 'sharing' for quite a while now but knew her beautiful Hannah sometimes became unhappy afterwards. Hannah was not always happy. Gowan vowed in the back of her mind to fix this. She would make this exotic beauty; she was gifted with by the spirits, as happy as she could.

Hannah studied the younger woman with what could only be called amazement. She had to tip her head up to see her full facial features when they stood upright this close. Sometimes Hannah imagined a place where it was just the two of them, where their father's disapprovals of them didn't exist.

Gowan's lips were moving against hers again when she heard the ruckus coming from the hut she had been patiently waiting outside. She recognized Landow and his brother Sim's voices raised angrily. She knew Sim had always thought it a mistake to leave Silas out there in the other place when he refused to join them. Fortunately for her father, Landow was older and where they had come from that meant everything.

When Juliet returned with the fuel for the fire Kate laughed hard seeing the awkward way she held the timber trying not to scratch her bare breasts with the rough bark of the logs and kindling.

She shot up to take the wood from her looking at the angry red scratches across Juliet's chest and wincing. "Ok, Ok I take it back, you should definitely wear a shirt when you're carrying wood."

"Yeah, um, that's probably a good idea." Juliet conceded handing the wood over to the other woman who had thrown on a sweatshirt. She watched Kate kneel down in front of the fireplace, carefully placing the wood under the grill strategically, to burn the best. "You're very good at building a fire." She couldn't stop the words that seemed to fall out of her mouth.

Kate was looking at the fire when her face split into a wide grin. "Are you hungry?"

"Uhmmm." Juliet moved to kneel behind her immediately zeroing In on her ear, nudging the hair out of the way before nipping at the lobe playfully.

"Yeah… and I'm the incorrigible one." Kate snorted.

"You made me tuna helper." She stated simply kissing down her neck.

"Right and the polite thing, the sophisticated thing to do would be to eat it." Kate said gently moving away when she felt the other woman's arms try to encircle her waist.

Juliet sat back on her heels grabbing her shirt off the floor, "Thank god, I'm starving." She said relieved.

Kate was stirring the sauce pan that was already bubbling. She smirked widely looking over her shoulder at the other woman who looked exhausted. "You look tired."

"Go ahead." Juliet laughed and looked at the other woman wryly, "Insert elderly joke now."

Kate once again served their dinner onto one plate with two forks. "Lady you are killing me with your stamina." Kate handed Juliet a utensil.

"Yeah?" Juliet smiled happily.

"I once dated a long distance runner," Kate said with a sexy twinkle in her eye. "He had nothing on you."

Juliet moved around to sit close to Kate as they ate. "Liar."

Kate laughed, "Ok, but he was on the track team."

They were both smiling and began eating in companionable silence. Of course the smiles were a bit forced as they were both a bit preoccupied with the new looming mysterious threat they were facing. Of course neither one of them was not used to looming mysterious threats. They would just handle whatever happened, as they always had, only now they would do it together.


	15. Chapter 15

Title: experiments part 15

Scribbler:

Fandom and Pairing and Disclaimer: Kate and Juliet from lost is not even remotely anything I might own, just borrowing the characters and the setting of the island for a little while.

Rating: M

Scribblers Note: Ok I was completely struggling with where this was going for the last couple of chapters. Probably because I was fighting the obvious… but due to some of you wonderful peoples comments/reviews/ suggestions…and just plain encouragement I think I'm back on track. Enjoy.

Spoilers: There are totally spoilers which I can't be any more clear about due to the fact that I don't remember when they occurred.

Disclaimer #2: I might owe a disclaimer to Claude Bernard and his deep and thoughtful quote on experimentation.

Kate sank down into the tub of hot water slowly, allowing her skin to adjust to the change in temperature. Once she was settled she parted her slender legs for her partner. Climbing in to sit between Kate's thighs Juliet seemed almost afraid to lean back into the other woman, as if she might crush her.

"Come here." Kate murmured leaning up so her lips were pressed to those beautiful golden curls next to her ear and she wrapped her arms around the taller woman to pull her back into her own body. As she felt Juliet relax into her embrace she let herself lean against the towel folded over the back of the tub, sighing contentedly, her hands resting on the blonde's stomach. "You feel good." She said softly after a quiet moment of nothing but the sound of their combined content breathing. Then she leaned around to kiss her partners cheek.

"Uuummmmmm…you too." Juliet said peacefully closing her eyes as she lowered her head a little tilting it to nuzzle her nose lightly under Kate's chin in a feathery light caress, knowing how ticklish Kate was there. She suddenly felt she needed to see the younger woman's heart wrenchingly beautiful smile.

Kate twitched and tensed, a grin suddenly covering her features. Stifling a giggle she moved her hands so that her ten fingertips were a poised at Juliet's sides just barely grazing the flesh. "Watch it Burke." She warned, "I'm not the only one who's ticklish here."

Juliet suddenly jerked in response when Kate began to wiggle her fingers a little. "Oww…" She cried out laughing loudly at the sharp pain that shot up her arm when she accidently hit her elbow on the hard porcelain side of the tub.

"Oh shit." Kate stopped fast, trying to suppress an amused grin. "I'm sorry-"

"Truce! Truce!" Squealed Juliet rubbing her elbow. "Tickling…tub-bad"

Kate lost control of her giggle as she reached down to take Juliet's arm gently in her hand to move her slightly red elbow to her lips. Turning instantly serious when she saw it actually might bruise she placed a soft kiss on it with parted lips reaching her tongue out to gently soothe Juliet's no longer even remotely sore elbow. Juliet moaned as she watched it become a sexy open mouthed kiss.

"Better?" Kate said giving it one last chaste peck, before turning to meet Juliet's eyes a little surprised at the intense want she saw there.

Juliet felt herself shiver a tiny bit before forcing herself under control to smile back at her lover, "You have a really, really, really excellent, one might say amazing way with '_the kiss better'._

Kate just returned her smile and pushed her around to face away from her, at the same time pulling her back to rest against her torso once more, leaving her arm wrapped snugly around her waist. With her free hand she moved to up to grab the washcloth and small tube of body wash she had been saving that she found in one of the other houses bathrooms. They had both taken a quick sponge bath, and washed each other's hair downstairs before they had gotten into the precious hot water that Kate had lugged up to the bathtub. It had been a week since they had moved downstairs and Kate was determined to show the blonde that her ankle was fine, and after some considerably obstinate arguing, had filled the tub for the two of them. Kate made sure Juliet relaxed with the book she knew the blonde had been in the middle of before all this happened, wrapped up in a soft nap blanket in the recliner in front of the fire. She was aware of how hard Juliet had been working since her stupid accident and also knew how worried she was about the new development in their circumstances. Juliet tried to hide how on edge she was, and Kate knew it was to try and prevent her from being nervous, but she could see the laugh lines around her eyes turning into stressed worry lines. Kate wanted the other woman to relax and at least have a little short carefree break from the daily pressures of their existence here. As she worked she thanked whatever higher power there was out there that nothing else disturbing had happened since the incident with their leftovers.

Kate felt a pleasant jolt move down her spine when she heard the soft noise that came from low in Juliet's throat when she began gently washing the other woman's upper body. She looked at the tiny dissapearing scratches that marred Juliet's porcelain skin on her chest with regret.

Feeling Kate tense up a little and seeing Kate's hands pause for a moment over what had been a particularly nasty cut and had actually left a faint little white line just above her left nipple. She seemed to read the brunette's mind. "I was showing off," she smiled, "I should have put a shirt on."

"Yeah, but I encouraged you by being a Lech." Kate admitted guiltily tenderly washing Juliet's soft full breasts smiling a little at the soft sound that escaped the other woman at her gentle ministrations.

"I kind of liked you being a Lech." Juliet admitted closing her eyes embarrassed and lowering herself further into the comforting water leaning her head more fully back between the younger woman's smaller firm breasts. She felt Kate shiver a little as she turned her head slightly to caress the side of her right breast with her cheek.

"You liked that?" Kate smiled mischievously slowly rubbing the face cloth down Juliet's soft belly, and in a cocky tone questioned. "Really can't say I'm surprised, what is it with every one of my lovers digging it when I'm a perv?"

"Kate," Juliet turned a little in the younger woman's arms so she could smile up at her lovingly. "You are the farthest thing from perverted that I could ever even imagine."

Kate looked down at the blonde's confident smile. "Shows what you know," She huffed her hand slipping slightly lower on Juliet's belly.

Juliet's eyes looked sympathetic at the insecure moment in Kate's eyes. " I read your file. You were never sexually promiscuous. Track star, medical student, other perverted lovers didn't exist."

Kate swallowed hard and tried to smirk confidently but utterly failing she glanced away trying to look casual, "How do you know your files were accurate?"

"Kate, the Dharma Initiative had more detailed investigations into people's pasts than the FBI, the CIA, and Homeland Security combined." She said turning around awkwardly so her chin was resting on Kate's sternum and her interlocked ankles peeked out of the water behind her. Now she was looking up hard into the brunette's eyes, their breasts pressed tightly against each other. She saw the other woman's face turning red with shame at getting caught in a lie as Kate closed her eyes. "Hey," she said trying to comfort , reaching up to caress her cheek. "Are you embarrassed?"

Kate's eyes remained closed. "I just-"

"What is it sweetheart?" Juliet said, her voice filled with worry as she leaned up a little and reached up to turn Kate's face to hers, kissing the other woman's lips softly.

"I already thought you wouldn't want to be with a dumb hick, let alone one that barely had any experience to begin with." Kate took a deep breath hearing her own voice get high with discomfort and tension.

Juliet studied Kate's face and noted the single tear trying to fall from her closed left eye. "You're so silly." She said leaning up to kiss away the drop of salt water on the other woman's cheek, "You are the furthest thing from a dumb hick I have ever met."

"But what about…deliverance? "Kate said slowly opening her eyes to meet Juliet's hesitantly.

"Oh god! I was kidding, I promise!" she visibly winced at her own stupid insensitivity. "It only makes me want you more, that you haven't been with all of those idiots you imagine would impress me." She said seriously, moving in to kiss her lips gently.

Kate laughed a little insecurely. "Yup, disease free." She joked.

Juliet pulled back to meet her eyes with a soft understanding expression, "No. It's that you don't give yourself to just anyone. That's incredibly flattering."

With great effort Kate sniffled and forced her emotions under control. "Oh Yeah?"

"Oh," Juliet leaned in to suckle at the brunette's lower lip. "Yeah."

"Ahh.." Kate moaned as she felt the older woman lean up the plant both of her lips squarely against her own, adding only a little bit more pressure to the kiss at first.

Juliet felt a tremor move through the brunette when, with slightly more force, she pressed harder into Kate's lips. Cradling the back of Kate's neck with her hand she forced the other woman's mouth at the correct angle to deepen the kiss. As she swirled her tongue around Kate's she could feel a sense of urgency coming off the younger woman. One of her arms, that had both been up until now, wrapped around the middle of the taller woman's back slowly moved up to reach around her shoulders as she gently as possible adjusted their position so she could cradle Juliet in her arms.

It was a little close, but Juliet certainly wasn't complaining, as Kate turned sideways. With one leg gently curled around underneath her, she felt the younger woman's foot coming to rest on the crease where her bum met her upper thighs. "You're so beautiful." Her legs were still slightly bent but she had a little more stretching room and she loved how enveloped she felt by the shorter woman's other leg that was now nearly lushly aligned with her own. The look on her face was filled with wonder. "How can you possibly be this insecure?"

Kate laughed, ducking her head bashfully into the crook of Juliet's shoulder, as she pulled her into a firm embrace. As the hand she didn't have wrapped around her shoulders slid gently against her hip. "I have many skills." She laughed trying to make light of the dangerously thin emotional ice she felt they were skating toward.

Juliet bent her top leg up until she could wrap it around the other woman's, possessively, as she arched her hips to press her very damp center to the top of Kate's thigh.

Kate gasped when she felt the blonde's own moisture, easily distinguishable from the bath water, as she began rubbing rhythmically over her now tensely muscled leg. "You're so wet." She said in a low growl moving her hand around the back of the other woman's hip and gripping her ass harshly as she tried to pull her closer.

Juliet leaned in so her lips were pressed against the smaller woman's ear, tilting her head up a little, to whisper. "Just looking at you makes me wet." She admitted in a decidedly weakened tone now moving a little more steadily against the silky skin she found so soothing to the burning sensation she felt rising within her. "You are the most exciting, considerate, creative and sexy lover I've ever had."

Kate's breath caught at the compliment so filled with sincerity it shook her a little. She was getting desperate to avoid the tightening emotions that seemed to begin messing with her ability to speak. She tried to laugh but the sound she made came out strangled, even to her own ears. "What's my competition? Some awkward book worm named _Jonathon _on_ prom night, _and Edmund?"

When Kate's hand moved slowly back around her hip again, this time pushing between them, and then moving up to cup Juliet's throbbing sex in her palm, Juliet's head fell forward and she groaned loudly against Kate's neck. She wanted nothing more than to bat Kate's hand away and take the younger woman first but she could feel Kate's need to prove something. "No," she muttered weakly, her voice tight as if trying to decide something. "Tamara." She admitted sighing at her confession. She had never in her life told anyone of the other woman she had made love with, not even Rachael.

"What?" Kate questioned in a stunned voice.

"Tamara." She repeated and felt as if a strange and ugly shadow that had been with her for so long lift and fall away.

Kate squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, aware from Juliet's body language that this was serious and not something she just normally brought up in the heat of the moment. "I didn't know."

"I never told anyone." Juliet's voice was small and very vulnerable.

"Not even your sister?" Kate questioned a little astonished. From what she had been able to glean from Juliet talking about her relationship with her sister, they had been so close…well it was practically incomprehensible to the younger woman who had spent so much of her life so closed off from any other, so far from ever trusting another human being…

Juliet pressed her face against Kate's upper chest shaking her head, although she knew it was barely perceptible with the harsh shaking her whole body was now doing against her lover.

"Juliet please tell me?" Kate requested softly.

Juliet now let out a slightly embarrassed laugh, "You'll make fun of me."

Kate leaned back so she could meet Juliet's eyes that were growing a little cloudy and were filled with silent insecurity. "I won't." She promised simply holding the blonde's gaze.

Juliet squirmed a little trying to shake off the doubt she felt about finally sharing this with someone for the first time in her life. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes and nervously smiled. "So your guess about the Jonathan… on prom night with the losing of the virginity is one way to go with the sterotype…" she drifted off a little sighing bashfully, "Then there's the other one. Ya know the one that half of the porn in America is based on."

Kate smiled sympathetically at the fire engine red her cheeks were turning and felt the need to rescue her from having to say the words. "College roommate?'

Juliet let a genuine snorting laughter escape her at Kate's easy guess and nodded. "Not too predictable, huh?" She asked sarcastically.

"Hey," Kate began to pull her hand away from Juliet's center suddenly becoming aware of the other woman's exposed state and just wanting to make her feel more comfortable.

"Please, don't," Juliet requested shyly, ducking her head a little and squeezing her thighs together in an effort to hold the brunette's hand where it was pressed against her tenderly heated core and where it felt somehow so reassuring.

"Okay," Kate stopped immediately leaving her hand lightly resting against her partners most intimate flesh in an effort to reassure, before speaking gently and rubbing her shoulder in an attempt to calm the obviously anxious woman. "Were you in love?" Kate actually felt Juliet squeeze her eyes tightly shut against her chest, nodding her head almost imperceptibly.

"Yes," she reflected, "_I was."_

"Well," Kate took a deep breath at the implication of the blonde's unsteady response. "Tamara was clearly an idiot."

Juliet laughed bitterly against her girlfriend's chest and sniffled loudly against the tears that were threatening to take over at the painful memory. "Nope, she was the third runner up for the Nobel Prize in 1998 actually."

"Oh," Kate said moving her hand up from her shoulder to stroke her damp golden locks off her face so she could see her expression. "So…. straight then?" She asked in a deadpan tone, leaning down to press her lips to Juliet's crinkled unsettled brow understandingly.

Juliet genuinely laughed at her lover's wry and sympathetically bitter response, and nodded her head again silently.

"Thank god." Kate breathed out loudly.

Juliet's eyes widened to look up at the younger woman who was still smoothing her unruly golden locks out of her face. "Beg your pardon?"

"If she was gay, then you'd be married and living somewhere in Connecticut with two point five kids, a station wagon and a dog." Kate narrowed her eyebrows clearly not pleased with the image.

"Homosexuals still can't marry in Connecticut." Juliet smiled loving Kate for how good she was at making her feel better.

"Massachusetts is just a hop skip and a jump." Kate grinned teasingly. "I imagine a fall wedding, where you both wore beautiful million dollar white dresses reciting your obviously self written mushy vows, in a small but charming chapel in the vineyard."

Juliet punched her gently in the shoulder as she looked up at her with an expression that vaguely resembled worship. She quickly pushed up off Kate's lap to kiss Kate firmly on the lips for a long moment before letting their kiss break just enough to utter the words against the other woman's mouth, "I love you so much."

"I love you more." Kate said simply, believing it to be the complete truth, as she took her turn to claim the other woman's lips with her own moving her arm back around her shoulders to tighten their embrace.

Juliet gasped into Kate's mouth when she felt her hand begin to move so gently and carefully between her thighs, it made her tear up at the depth of love she felt in the gesture. Kate didn't miss the opportunity when she felt the older woman's lip part, immediately pushing her tongue into the warm cavern of Juliet's mouth. She mildly explored the familiar territory, careful not to spook the unmistakably uneasy older woman.

"Ohhh…" Juliet sighed into the brunette's mouth feeling more taken care of…more looked after than she had ever felt before in her life. When she felt the tips of Kate's index and middle finger nudge at her opening she began to tremble uncontrollably. Her words came out a weak whimper when she whispered, "Please."

Kate kissed her again, hungrily, before pulling back enough to meet the blonde's slightly undone expression. "Please what Juliet?" She said softly needing to here the other woman say the words.

"I need to feel you Inside me," Juliet barely managed to get the words out as she felt Kate's finger's push more insistently between her legs.

Kate could not keep her waiting as she easily slid her two strong fingers in between Juliet's wet folds and beyond. Juliet felt her entire body shudder at the feeling of Kate filling her up. "Ung…" she heard the deep sound emanating from her own chest with a bit of surprise. Moving up, her eyes closed, pushing her lips against the tender spot behind the beautiful other woman's ear so Kate could feel the vibrations, she let loose a shaky groan.

"I'm going to make you come for me." Kate informed confidently beginning a slow and easy stroking motion in and out of her beautiful partner's tight velvety interior. She loved the way the other woman's inner muscles immediately began to pull at her fingers as if she couldn't get Kate's long slender fingers deeply enough inside of her.

"Yes," Juliet sighed, clumsily but cautiously climbing up over the smaller woman's lap, never losing the penetration that was close to driving her into oblivion already, adjusting her position so her knee's squeezed in around Kate's thighs and she could begin riding the other woman's hand. She wrapped both of her arms around the younger woman's neck, resting her head against Kate's shoulder achingly-weakly.

Kate moved her fingers in and out of the other woman faster and deeper, almost as if she needed to show Juliet that she was a worthy lover, and was thrilled as the blonde seeming to lose a little control, lifting herself so she was now moving up and down on those strong fingers now embedded deeply inside her.

"Does that feel good?" Kate questioned nuzzling her neck softly for a moment before nibbling at the other woman's pulse point.

"O-Oh-yeeessss." Juliet cried feeling herself begin to twist almost involuntarily on Kate's fingers her eyes shutting in ecstasy. "Sooo…goooood."

Kate pulled her head back and looked at Juliet's face that was twisted up in such trusting passionate abandon, her eyes shut tightly. "Will you look at me?"

Juliet responded to the timid questioning tone of Kate's voice and forced herself to lean back a little willing her eyes open to meet the brunette's. Kate felt the other woman's inner muscles begin to twitch around her fingers and lost no time in curling her fingers inside the other woman pressing the place inside of Juliet that she knew would bring her off, as her thumb finally found her clit and began massaging firmly.

"Oh Kate…" Juliet groaned loudly as her entire body quivered in the brunette's arms.

"Shhh…It's alright. I've got you." Kate held Juliet around her shoulders close with one arm while her fingers stilled inside the other woman.

Juliet felt her body shuddering as the last phantom convulsions moved through her body.

Kate held the other woman as she began to lose the built up tension and relaxed against her. She jerked her head back in alarm craning her neck to look at the blonde's face that rested on her breast, when she felt her hot tears hitting her skin. "Oh shit! Oh god! Did I hurt you?"

Juliet smiled up at her through her glistening eyes and shook her head against her breast, barely whispering. "No,"

Kate studied her for a moment to make sure and then grinned a little shyly. "I didn't hurt you." She said with a little extra confidence in her voice.

Juliet shook her head again and tried to crawl impossibly deeper into Kate's warm body, that was wrapped around her and filling her all at once. She trembled as she felt Kate's digits that were still buried deep inside of her shake with the intensity of the moment.

"I love you," Juliet heard the swelling pride and adoration in Kate's tone, and began to tremble again as she felt Kate slowly withdrawing from her sensitive swollen opening, under the water.

Juliet barely missed a beat before she had her lips pressed against the pebbled skin surrounding one of Kate's delicious nipples. Kate leaned her head back against the towel pillow, arching her back into her touch, as she felt Juliet's body resituated itself so she was kneeling between the younger woman's legs never releasing the nipple she was suckling at fiercely as her hand came up to knead the other breast.

"Ohhh!" Kate cried out as she felt Juliet's teeth clamp down on said nipple.

The doctor was encouraged at the way one of Kate's hands fisted in her hair pulling her tighter to her breast and quickly moved to the other breast to give it a similar treatment. She couldn't help but notice the bath was growing colder and smiled evilly, placing a sweet kiss between Kate's breasts and then sitting up retrieving the lost wash cloth to begin tenderly washing Kate's face.

Kate's lips turned down in disappointment. "You're kidding right?"

Juliet could barely keep a straight face as Kate's eyes opened to meet her own watching the other woman washing her body in a very _friendly _kind of way. Juliet leaned in close to the other woman's ear whispering, "The water's getting cold."

"Soooo!" Kate cried in exasperation.

"So, I want you in front of a nice warm fire. Overprotective, remember?" She smiled against her neck as the brunette felt Juliet slowly begin to rub the cloth over her inner thighs.

"I-oh god-I'm clean." Kate said rather loudly, pushing Juliet off her roughly to grab a towel and wrapping it around her before racing downstairs out of the cold. She stopped fast in front of the fireplace and turned just in time to see Juliet catch up with her buck naked, dripping and laughing loudly as she pulled Kate against her.

Kate had suggested that they hang a thick bedspread over the window to keep the heat in, although she in actuality was more concerned with their privacy. In the face of someone else out there watching them she would at least make sure this-their time together stayed safe-just between them.

Juliet grabbed where the towel that was knotted at the other woman's front and jerked it off her. Kate gasped as she finally met the blonde's gaze and saw the lust filling her eyes. She grinned with a knowing look directed at Juliet. "You want me." She said in a harsh need filled whisper as she backed up a little.

Juliet moved in on Kate her eyes hungry as they raked up and down her now naked form. "Yes." She smiled and again advanced on the younger woman.

Kate felt it in her toes when Juliet seemed to claim ownership over her with a kiss to end all kisses and froze a stunned look on her face. "I'm yours." She said simply.

Juliet pulled her into her arms and kissed the lips that filled her thoughts whenever Kate was not near enough. Kate groaned into Juliet's mouth as she felt her back meet the wall next to the fireplace. "We should lie down…" Kate said breathily even as she wrapped one of her legs around Juliet's hip.

"No time-"Juliet groaned taking Kate's thigh in her hand and twisting so she was pushing harder into the younger woman's center. "I need you to come for me…" she exhaled harshly, "Now."

When she felt the fingers from her other hand slip inside her, her head crashed back against the wall. Juliet moved the hand she had on Kate's hip up to cradle her head delicately. "Hey… easy baby." She whispered soothingly against her ear rubbing out the bruise she already felt growing at the back of the younger woman's head.

Kate allowed Juliet's hand, that was behind her neck now, to pull her forward to lean into her shoulder. "Uhhh…" Kate moaned beginning to try to match Juliet's motions of her thrusting fingers deep inside her. She knew she was close when she heard herself begging. "Please…. Juliet, please."

Of course Juliet wanted nothing more than to feel Kate's orgasm rip through her. She changed the angle of her fingers, twisting her fingers a little and and knew by the sounds the younger woman was making she was almost there. Kate practically screamed when she felt Juliet's fingers pull out of her suddenly. She was quickly consoled when the blonde fell to her knees in front of her and used her hands to push her thighs open roughly before she leaned forward to lick up the length of her dripping slit.

Kate felt her own body slide down the wall to melt to the floor as Juliet moved back to give her space but never stopped lapping up her sweet salty arousal.

Kate, whose back, was now against the wall, her ass on the floor writhed against Juliet's mouth knowing that she had never felt like this before in her life and that she was about to come and come hard. She couldn't stop the waves as she heard Juliet audibly lapping up everything she had to give.

She didn't remember falling into Juliet's arms, but seemed to _come to_ there.

"Are you ok?" Juliet asked concerned also having trouble regaining control of her breath, knowing she had not been able to stop when she should have. Kate's taste really did drive her to distraction and it seemed she had been helpless against it, unable to stop sucking all of her delicious pleasure into her mouth, even as Kate begged for mercy convulsing against her face.

"O-K-?" Kate smiled up at the older woman a little dazed, pulling her down into a deep kiss, shivering a little at her own taste on Juliet's tongue. When she finally broke the kiss they were both breathing heavily and Kate waited patiently for Juliet's eyes to open and clear a little, "I had no idea I could be this ok."

Juliet smiled and pulled the younger woman closer to her trying to wrap her entire body around her.

Silas hummed quietly to himself as he finished the preparations to the cleansing room he had decided on. It was the bedroom of a smaller house three doors down from the one the demon held his wife prisoner in. He had removed all the furniture from the room and placed the kitchen table in the middle of it. He yanked on the bindings he had hand screwed to the sides, testing their strength. With a satisfied grin he stood up straight and perused his work looking for any mistakes.

He knew it was almost time to save his sweet Sarah from the inner turmoil her soul was clearly embroiled in and moved over to the only other piece of furniture in the room. He took the rosary beads and the bible, one in each hand, off the low table and clutched them to his chest, kneeling down and closing his eyes in silent prayer for a successful outcome to what he had to help his love to do.

It had taken a lot of reasoning and pleading, but between Sarah and Hannah's arguments, it had been decided that they would just quietly observe the other three outside the boundary for now. Landow insisted that Silas had thus far done nothing to prove that he would harm the new ones and the new ones had done nothing to prove their worthiness to enter their sanctuary.

As all of these individuals seemed to think they were each freely choosing their own outcomes, Ben and Richard sat around a small campfire on a hill overlooking the less populated than normal little village that they were both so intricately familiar with, nestled in the heart of the jungle they each knew by heart, on the island that they both understood owned their souls.

"I don't know if I will ever understand why you do this." Richard said shaking his head at the tension he felt brewing below them.

"I can do this because Jacob allows it." Ben said his eyes a little glazed over from the opium the two of them had been smoking.

"Not how you can do this, Benjamin." Richard said pointedly although he knew Ben had understood him the first time, "_Why you do this…"_

"When was the first time you asked me that Richard?" Ben pondered out loud with no malice.

"When I first brought you to the temple and Jacob healed you." Richard sighed, still at a loss after all these years.

"Jacob told me he saw a great curiosity about people in me." He breathed in quiet contemplation almost to himself.

Richard stiffened next to him. He had known Benjamin Linus for over thirty years now and had played through this very scene dozens of times with the much younger man. He had never received such an open honest answer from the other man. He usually just chuckled about famous quotes on experimentation. Last time he had mumbled something about "observation being a passive science and experimentation being an active science." Quoting the author as Claude Bernard, a French Physiologist.

"I don't know why I do this really, except maybe I need to see how they will react to one another and their environment." He said shaking his head a little as if to clear it.

"You know you've never been that truthful about your motives with me before Ben." Richard said in a soft voice. "Is it because of her?"

Ben got a far off dreamy drift in his expression before returning to reality. "Maybe." He said quietly rising to stand and retreat back toward the caves that held the gears that controlled the very time on the island.

TBC


	16. Chapter 16

Title: experiments part 16

Author:

Pairing: Dr. Juliet Burke/ Katherine Austin

Fandom: LOST

Rated: M

Summary: talk, arguing, fighting

A/N: Crap! Actually creating a plot it hard! Who knew? And if you did know, why was I not told?

Richard paced near the fire pit in the temple, deep in thought. He had been summoned by Jacob for a little visit, and though he had already been there for nearly nine hours, both men had yet to utter a single word. Neither of the two men had yet broken the silence, but this was not unusual in their case, nine hours truly did seem like a small chunk of time considering the long life Jacob had granted the Spaniard, and from what the darker man knew of Jacob that was nothing compared to the amount of time the other man had been in existence.

Richard paused glancing over at the other man or whatever it was-that he was, sitting at his loom. This was often how he found Jacob when he was called upon to meet with him. What he was working on was still a mystery, even after all these years, but whatever he was weaving Richard could clearly see the beauty in the simplicity of the pattern.

With a deep cleansing breath Richard decided to break the silence. "Why do you let him observe them as if they were human guinea pigs?"

"It makes him happy," Jacob said casually.

"It's not normal. It's wrong to look at them as if they were just little experiments that the island was conducting." Richard sighed as he sat down cross legged at Jacob's feet.

"What they are is special, and Benjamin recognizes that." He smiled down at the other man patiently.

Richard fell quiet again, pondering as he glanced down at his hands neatly folded in his lap.

"Richard, it will be alright. Ben knows better than to interfere." He reassured.

"I would have agreed with that before…before _she_ was involved. You know that his judgment becomes clouded whenever Juliet Burke is involved." He countered.

Jacob's fingers paused in his work to look the other man straight in the eye. "I know how Ben feels about the good doctor. I also know he understands that the island has decided that they were never meant to be."

"Yes, he understands, but does he like it?"

"Of course he doesn't, the man is in love. He has been since the moment he laid eyes on her. But he sees that her heart belongs to another." Jacob said confidently.

"He did not see that when she was involved with Goodwyn." Richard objected.

"Goodwyn was nothing like this. She went to him for comfort, because she was lonely and afraid. This is not the same. Before she was the one seeking protection and reassurance, now all she wants to do is reassure and protect Kate. Juliet _truly loves _Katherine Austin." Jacob smiled musing at the thought of one human being really loving another. He was still, even after all this time, at a loss to define these feelings he could sometimes clearly see in the people on the island, the people that lived here with him in his home. He knew however he would never experience them for himself, and so would never fully comprehend them.

Richard studied the other man carefully; Jacob's expression clearly showed a longing to know what it was between the two women they were speaking of. Ironically Richard had known what they felt and almost wished he hadn't. It had been over a century and a half and he still had a fresh ache in his heart whenever he thought of his long lost wife. They had been happy, honestly and unconditionally happy together. He saw that same happiness in the eyes of the two latest residents to be dragged into the other place. His still had a deeply abiding love for his wife that caused him to feel great empathy for the women and also great concern. It would hurt him to see them torn apart…and if Ben had his way that is exactly what would happen.

"What will happen?" He asked hesitantly, uncertain that he wanted to hear the answer.

"I don't know, but I do know whatever does happen, it was always meant to be that way." Jacob theorized.

"Kate?" Juliet called out as she returned from the cellar with the ingredients she had gone to fetch for their dinner. She froze surveying her too serene surroundings. She had been downstairs longer than she thought she would cleaning up a broken jar that a wayward rodent had knocked to the floor. There was no answer and she felt herself begin to shake a little with the tension building like a spring in her belly. "Kate?" She repeated louder as she grew even more nervous, rushing through the first floor and finding nothing. She then took off up the stairs in search of her missing partner. She ran from room to room with an ever growing weight on her shoulders. After desperately searching, even checking the closets, she paused to try to quell her rapidly building panic attack.

She took a few deep breaths and then was flying down the stairs and towards the front door, she stopped and turned to rush back into the living room and grabbing the gun she had noticed earlier in its place on the mantle. She bolted down the front steps into the storm.

"Kate!" She screamed at the top of her lungs in full going to pieces mode now. When she reached the bottom of the stairs her mind was already full of images of Kate hurt or lying broken at the bottom of a ravine like she had found her before. The rain was coming down hard now and she wondered if Kate would be able to hear her from even 10 feet away.

Squinting as the water filled her eyes, she peered frantically all around her, trying to decide which direction to go in.

She stopped cold, spinning around when she felt a hand touch her shoulder from behind. When she spun around, she had her arm drawn back with the gun in it aiming it at the person behind her. Then saw a drenched Kate wearing the rain slicker and carrying something awkwardly under the poncho.

"Hey!" The younger woman shouted over the downpour putting her hands up in a surrendering posture as her eyes widened at the gun pointed at her face. Juliet dropped the gun and threw her arms around the other woman her insides turning to jello with relief. Kate hugged her back tightly deeply concerned at Juliet's overwrought appearance. "It's just me!"

"Where did you go?" Juliet said her voice raised far too loudly next to Kate's ear, causing her jolt a little in the blondes embrace but not to let go of Juliet who was clinging urgently to her, her body trembling violently.

"What?" Kate asked a little thrown.

"I said where you were?" Juliet said trying to get her high terrified voice under control finally releasing Kate so she could glare at her but not stepping out of her personal space.

Kate was speechless at the other woman's obvious distress; she looked down at the ground at the skinned gutted and headless rabbit she had dropped at their feet to hold Juliet. Following her gaze Juliet saw the rabbit and then back up at Kate shocked. She turned on her heal and stormed back into the house, leaving a confused Kate to scurry after in her wake.

Kate removed the slicker and hung it up on the coat rack near the door. "Juliet- what's the matter?"

The concern in Kate's voice only served to make her angrier as she stalked away from her into the living room, afraid she might say something she would regret if faced with that oblivious innocent expression for one more second. She began tearing her own soaked clothes off, flinging them on the ground.

Kate put the gun and rabbit she had gotten out of the snare to surprise Juliet with on the counter and followed the other woman. "Juliet?"

Juliet refused to look at her as she yanked on a pair of sweats Kate had discarded earlier and pulled a dry sweatshirt over her goose bump covered naked torso. She paced in front of the fireplace arms crossed over her chest in a gesture of self protection and then she turned toward the younger woman heatedly. "You left! You left without telling me where you were going!"

Kate did not miss the indicting tone of her voice. "I just went to check the snares." She said walking toward the other woman who seemed to again be studiously avoiding her gaze. She stopped dead in her tracks when Juliet looked up at her to reveal the furious expression on her now tear soaked face.

"We haven't caught anything in the snares in a month!" She yelled.

"Right, so I thought we were about due." Kate spoke softly, "I was right too." She mumbled as she carefully approached the other woman once again, inching closer to Juliet, who was clearly very upset. "I just went as far as the tree line to check the two we have there. I thought I'd be back before you- but then I saw that we caught one. I wanted to clean it outside so I didn't mess up the kitchen. I thought it would be nice to have some fresh-"

"You scared the shit out of me." Juliet said in barely a whisper that made Kate wish she was still yelling at her. "I didn't know where you were."

Kate moved closer and put her hands on Juliet's shoulders. "Hey, I'm sorry-I didn't think-"

"No." Juliet shook her partner's hands off and spat back at her. "You didn't, did you? You never think, you just do whatever pops into your head, the hell with everyone else!"

Kate took a step back in the face of her lover's fury.

Juliet could see her regret and knew she was sorry, she also knew she had no call to be this upset but she couldn't seem to stop herself as she turned and bolted back up the stairs leaving a slightly dumbfounded Kate in her wake.

Kate, for her part stood there a little stunned not having a clue what to do. She felt her whole body jump when she heard the bedroom door slam. Seeing the clear unadulterated fear in Juliet's eyes made her know that she had screwed up, although she didn't exactly know how. She took a few deep breaths of her own and walked back out to the kitchen to grab a large cooking pot, filling it with water and throwing the carcass in to soak she put the pan over the fire that was now low and just warm.

She sat down for a moment staring at the fire not knowing what to do. She had never had this before-this other person caring so much about what happened to her. While part of her wanted to flee, escape the new pressure, a bigger part of her needed to be reassured that Juliet was alright.

Sim and Landow watched the new ones carefully. They had others watching Silas, needing to make sure he would not do anything they would all regret but for the most part the two brothers were here to make a judgment on the women that had suddenly appeared in their midst.

"They are angry." Landow surmised.

"The pale one was frightened." Sim said sympathetically.

"They do not control their emotions." Landow insisted.

"How well did you and Vivian control your emotions when you were in disagreement?" Sim argued.

"It is not the same." Landow growled annoyed with his bother. He knew Sim approved of his daughters relations with Hannah. Landow however knew the importance of procreation, of carrying on the tribe's legacy, of the children that were meant to be brought forth into their fold. Especially here in this tribe, that had become his own where their numbers were so few.

Sighing loudly as he realized his own argument of strength in numbers defeated the idea of not taking in the two women. He met Sim's knowing gaze and nodded.

When Sim started to rise and walk toward the house Landow grabbed his arm forcing him to pause. "Sim." He smirked, "Look at us. If they were smart, they would shoot us on sight."

Sim smiled back and again nodded knowing his brother was right. In their already disturbed state, with two strange men coming from nowhere out of the jungle, it was likely something unfortunate would happen. Both men turned silently back toward the boundary.

Juliet was sitting on the bed, a quilt wrapped around her, and she hugged her knee's shivering. She had finally been able to stop sobbing and had reached the just sniffling phase, of course sniffling against the sweats made her smell Kate's scent left on the clothes, causing her to sniffle more. As she sat there rocking a little she thought back on her earlier tirade and blushed again in embarrassment. She knew she had overreacted, but just the idea of something happening to Kate made her skin all prickly and her stomach clench. She laughed a little at herself and wondered how Kate was handling her little breakdown. Five minutes after she escaped she had once again felt a small sense of panic that Kate might run away again. Her girlfriend was famous for that. She had gotten a grip on herself enough to sneak out to listen at the top of the stairs to make sure she was still there. After she heard the reassuring noises of Kate moving around she quickly went back into the room to continue her stewing.

This was all so knew. She had been on her own for so long, only ever worrying about her own safety to suddenly have someone else's welfare mean as much as hers-no… more-left her a little daunted. They had been with each other near to constantly for the last…she didn't even remember anymore, and she knew she was being a control freak but when Kate was away from her she worried.

Her lover was so impulsive and sometimes it scared her. She grinned to herself as she argued in her head that mostly it just excited her. With a deep sigh she extricated herself from her little comforter cocoon and slowly walked to the door knowing she had to face the music sooner or later. She paused her hand reaching for the doorknob, suddenly realizing that Kate was probably pretty upset with her also and worried that she might have just screwed up everything.

Kate sat on the floor outside the bedroom that used to be Juliet's. She had tried to keep busy downstairs and give her lover her space, that she obviously needed. After a half hour she had given up, acknowledging that patience had never been her strong point, she had crept quietly upstairs intending to knock on the door and check on the other woman. Of course she had chickened out at the last second terrified that Juliet was going to tell her to get lost, and decided to instead sit quietly outside the door, where she felt she was close enough to hear if she needed her, but still respecting her wish for privacy.

She startled when she heard the door open and squeaked a little as the blonde exited the bedroom. "Oh," Juliet gasped grabbing her chest in surprise, before her face broke into a big silly grin at finding Kate holding silent vigil outside her door with a guilty hangdog expression.

"Hi?" Kate said hesitantly and then felt her own lips quirk up in a small smile as Juliet burst out laughing and sat down next to Kate, holding her belly as she tried not to giggle. Kate too found a big smile on her own face as she fought the nervous laughter that begged to escape her. When she felt Juliet take her hand in her own she squeezed it tightly and looked up a little at the taller woman.

"I'm sorry," They both said at the same time and Juliet looked down shyly at their hands.

"I'm an inconsiderate idiot." Kate confessed quickly. "I should have waited till you came up. I just thought it would be cool to surprise you if there was anything in the snares." They often checked the snares and traps but rarely found anything. Kate had joked about everything hibernating for the winter, even though they were trapped on a tropical island.

Juliet sniffled a little, "I didn't mean to yell at you, I was just scared."

"Hey," Kate took Juliet's chin in her hand and turned her face so their eyes met. "I know, it's alright though, still here."

Juliet smiled blinking back her fresh tears.

"I mean if you want me to be still here." Kate said in a low nervous tone suddenly a little tempted to avert her own eyes. But she held Juliet's gaze as the blonde leaned in to kiss her forehead tenderly.

"Of course I want you to still be here, dummy." She said softly wrapping an affectionate arm around the brunette's shoulders.

They were quiet for a moment, Kate's head resting comfortably on Juliet's shoulders. "You didn't even take the gun."

Kate heard Juliet's almost whispered words. "I know, I thought about that afterwards." She admitted.

"Well at least if occurred to you afterward," Juliet said sarcastically bringing her hand that was on her partner's shoulder up to lightly cuff her on the back of her head. "That's so very reassuring."

"Hey," Kate turned on her indignantly. Seeing the teasing sparkle in Juliet's eyes she looked back down at her lap smiling. "Ever gonna live this down?"

"Doubt it." Juliet smirked standing.

"But…" Kate trailed after her towards the stairs.

Juliet inhaled deeply as she walked on. "Better be damn good rabbit stew." She said as they walked down the stairs.

"It totally is." Kate said proudly as they entered the cleaned up living room, where the fire was burning hot now cooking the soup she had thrown together. She was surprised when Juliet spun around and pulled her toward her.

"I love you." Juliet said happily cupping Kate's face in her hands before leaning in to kiss her lips softly.

"Mmmm…so-forgiven?" Kate smiled after returning the kiss.

"Not even close Austin." The blonde said in a deadpan tone.

Silas paced back in forth in the storm along the tree line near the house. He held the dart gun in an iron grip, as he tried to reign in his rage. He had been so close, he was about to knock out that evil bitch who had some kind of control over his poor innocent wife, when Sarah had come looking for her. He had felt a brief moment of utter joy when Sarah pointed the gun at her, thinking that she had finally figured things out on her own.

That perfect moment had of course been shattered when the beautiful woman he loved had actually embraced their dark enemy. No matter.

Tomorrow was another day and if he knew anything about where they were, it was that time was not something in short supply.


	17. Chapter 17

Title: experiments part 17

Author: Why won't it say my name?

A/N: make up sex and rabbit stew I believe was requested and less of anything without the beautiful ladies, so here ya go…

While she was wondering what to do about the very angry woman she loved upstairs , who apparently didn't want to be anywhere near her for a while, Kate had thrown together some soup, which Juliet had to admit was pretty good. After they ate, they sat in front of the fire playing 'I spy.' Leaning back into the other woman's arms relaxed and relieved that she hadn't ruined everything, Kate smirked widely as Juliet tried to figure out what she spied that began with a 'P'.

They had already been through paper, painting, piano (That appeared in the cheap 70's art deco painting), pants, print, perishables (The soup), pint (The size of one of the water bottles in the room), when Juliet leaned in to grin against the other woman's bare shoulder, "Panties?" Her voice held a provocatively husky tone, her hands coming around Kate's waist to just unbutton the top of the fly on her jeans exposing just the waistband of said panties.

"Hey!" Kate objected swatting the other woman's hands away as she laughed loudly. "That's cheating, you couldn't _spy_ that before!"

Moving one of her hands up to brush Kate's unruly mop of curls out of the way, Juliet turned her head to the side darting her tongue out to quickly lap at her earlobe. She felt Kate jerk in surprise and then once again melt into her arms. "I can now." She glanced down at the tiny line of Kate's underwear that was now exposed.

Kate shivered at the now downright sultry lilt to her lover's voice. "I picked something you could see _before_ Doctor." She added in an unnecessarily condescending tone.

"Do we really have to finish the game?" Juliet whispered moving her other hand up and over a bit to rub slow tight circles on her over her hip.

"Come on…" Kate frowned, "You never finish want to finish a game anymore."

Sighing in exasperation Juliet leaned up and began to scan the room with a careful analytical eye. She needed this game to end so they could move onto what they both really wanted to be doing. She freely admitted Kate was much better at waiting than her, but in her defense she wasn't sitting between the brunette's thighs, leaning into her center. Every time Kate moved around she was pushing that beautiful ass against places it should not be in the middle of an 'I Spy' game. Juliet was fully willing to admit it was driving her to distraction, but she'd also wager the other woman knew that.

Suddenly she smiled, "Paint?" she asked glancing at the wall.

Kate spun her head around to glare at the older woman clearly perturbed, "How'd you do that?

"I had incredible motivation." Juliet grinned triumphantly.

Kate huffed turning back around to face the fire. "Ok, that's two out of three for you and two out of three for me. Tie breaker?"

Moving her hair further out of her way she nuzzled the soft downy hair at the base of her scalp, before moving up closer to her ear again. "I like ties, that way everyone wins." She loved the way Kate shivered whenever her hot breath was anywhere near her ears, neck or throat, she had never had a lover that she could practically get off by just breathing on them.

"Nuh-uh. Then nobody wins. No ties. I hate ties, someone has to lose." She insisted stubbornly, marshalling all of her self control as Juliet's fingers ran through her silky curls and over to massage her shoulder lightly, her other hand slid around to rest on the top of her thigh. She knew what Juliet would rather be doing and god knew she too would enjoy that change of pace in the evening's activities. But they had just done this big dramatic scene, with all kinds of emotions and whatnot. Kate knew it was like a nervous tick, but had just never been able to stop herself from over thinking any given situation where emotions were involved that she didn't have a firm handle on. To say she wasn't quite sure of what to think of the last few hours would have been the understatement of her year, and that was saying a lot, considering the things she had seen and heard over the last year. Having spent the better part of an hour avoiding these thoughts now, her only tool being sheer determination to avoid said same emotions, she now felt herself losing the battle.

"Are you sure you want to keep playing _I Spy_?" Juliet began placing open mouthed kisses down the length of the other woman's neck.

Almost involuntarily Kate snuggled deeper into Juliet's body inhaling sharply as she felt the tremor move through the blonde's body, that lush, strong, sexy body that was currently pressed so close to her own…

"So why did you get so mad?" Kate blurted out. She stiffened at the high squeaky quality of her own voice. Feeling the other woman's hand on her thigh now also moving in a gentle massage, she knew Juliet could sense her discomfort, as the kneading now held a distinctly more _reassuring _quality as opposed to the previous _seductive_ one_._ Taking a deep breath she forced her body, especially her vocal chords to relax. "I've never seen you get so upset. Not that I've-" She sighed in frustration at her own inarticulate attempt to explain and took Juliet's hand from her thigh bringing it up to her belly to hold between her own. She began stroking the back softly with one of her thumbs needing something to do with her hands as she practically held her breath waiting for Juliet's response.

Juliet wrapped her free arm back around the other woman's waist pulling her more securely to herself, instinctually wanting to wrap her up in her body, sheltering her from anything that might do her harm. She knew they needed to talk, but was not thrilled about having the conversation. She wanted to reassure Kate but found herself with a distinct lack of justification for her behavior. "Ahh… I guess it's because I'm an overprotective paranoid freak," Replied Juliet embarrassed.

Kate laughed softly, that typically would have been her game plan in this kind of situation…cutesy glib answer as a tactical distraction. She felt her heart expand a little with happiness at discovering one more silly bad habit the two of them shared. While that, or something similar, was normally her emergency escape exit from this serious talk business, having the other person do it for her would have just been such a bonus. It was weird, but now she wanted to have this conversation-_no she needed to. _ "Nice try Blondie," The younger woman teased, amazed that she was forcing the issue. She turned and tilted her head up a bit to kiss the older woman's jaw, "No really, tell me why. Please?"

Juliet took a moment before she spoke wanting to make the younger woman understand she wasn't just being a control freak, that a few short hours ago, when she couldn't find Kate, it was one of the scariest moments of her life. "I was so afraid Kate." She answered bluntly, pressing her face into the crook of the brunette's neck and inhaling deeply looking for strength in Kate's scent as her voice shook a little. "When I called you and you didn't answer, I thought, I- well I guess I didn't think -I just panicked." Juliet said breathily tightening her legs as well as arms around her lover to comfort herself as well as her clearly vulnerable partner. "I just- I don't know what I would do if anything were to happen to you."

Kate felt the blonde smirk against her skin and would swear on a stack of bibles the other woman was rolling her eyes even though she couldn't see her. She knew Juliet was reading her mind.

"And no, not because you may well be the only other person on whatever planet we're currently inhabiting," she pressed her lips in a firm kiss to the back of her head. "I'm pretty sure I would have felt the same urgency to find you if we were in the middle of Miami."

"I'm sorry. So, so, so sorry." Kate smiled sweetly and squirmed a little at the ticklish feeling of the blonde's breathing into her hair. "If I promise to never do that again, can we not do this again? As it turns out, I don't like the whole fighting thing as much as you might think." She murmured a little uncomfortably.

Juliet smiled affectionately at her mumbling girlfriend's confession and what she could see of the slight flush spreading across her cheeks. "Yeah, truthfully I'm not terribly fond of it either."

"It gives me a stomach ache." Kate pouted leaning back onto Juliet's shoulder and using their joined hands to rub her tummy. Kate snuggled deeper into Juliet's embrace as she felt the other woman move her head so her lips pressing soft feather light kisses down her neck again.

"Have you ever heard of make-up sex?" Juliet teased kissing the crook where the brunette's shoulder and neck met.

Kate fought to keep a straight face as she felt Juliet's smile on her skin, and shook her head, feigning ignorance. "Nope, what's that?"

Juliet leaned away a little, smirking at the daft expression the younger woman was trying to pull off. "No?" The other woman leaned back into her neck, nipping gently at the soft skin she found there.

"Uh-uh." Kate wiggled around trying not to giggle. When she felt Juliet's hips jerk forward at her movement, her heartbeat increased knowing and loving that just sitting this close to her companion, even with both of them fully clothed, had such an effect on her.

"I could show you…," The older woman let her voice trail off in a low hungry tone and then ran her tongue slowly back up to Kate's ear smiling against it when she felt the younger woman shudder. "If you would like?"

"Uhhmmmm…." Kate could hear her own voice getting alarmingly deep. "Yes please." She forced herself to calm down and respond casually, like she was saying yes please to marshmallows in her cocoa.

"Such a polite young lady," Juliet's smile grew wider.

"Mmmm… polite is kinda sophisticated, no?" Kate turned around in Juliet's arms to kneel between her thighs so she could meet her eyes with an expression filled with mirth. "Look at silly little unsophisticated me and all my fancy manners."

"Ever gonna live that down?" Juliet asked a little exasperated.

"Doubt it." Kate returned with a quirk of her lips.

Juliet was suddenly overcome by the perfection of Kate's expression; she couldn't stop herself as she impulsively leaned forward taking the brunette's mouth with her own in an avid kiss. Kate, for her part, was clearly as eager as the blonde, as she quickly slipped her tongue past the other woman's slightly parted lips moving it around her teeth before stroking the roof of her mouth teasingly . Juliet moaned softly, first at the sexy sensations the other woman's hot rough tongue was causing to course through her body, and then at the sudden loss when Kate out of nowhere broke the kiss and hopped up to her feet turning around to load another log onto the embers of the dying fire for the night, "Sooo…tell me about this make-up sex." She virtually purred enjoying the frustration she could feel coming off her lover in waves even with her back turned.

Juliet looked up at her with an amused grin, she stood up and slowly walking around so she faced Kate. "Come on." She said putting her hands on Kate's hips causing her to twitch a little. Looking into those smoky dark eyes, she could see how much of the brunette's willpower it was taking to continue the charade of not needing to jump her bones right then and there.

"We goin' somewhere?" Kate smiled coyly as Juliet ran her hands leisurely up the other woman's sides easily walking her backwards across the short distance until Kate could feel the backs of her knees pressed against the edge of the mattress.

"Right here,"" Juliet murmured startling Kate a little when all of a sudden the hands that were resting at her waist gently guiding her, moved down to grasp her hips tugging them firmly into her own before she leaned in to kiss her fiercely thrusting her tongue possessively into the other woman's warm wet mouth, massaging Kate's with her own, and then surprised the younger woman again by moving her hands up again quickly to her shoulders to gently shove her backwards.

"Ohh." Cried Kate who had little time to even grasp suddenly being mostly horizontal before Juliet was leaning down to gracefully remove her jeans in one quick move. Closing her eyes she sighed happily as she felt the bed dip around her and looked up to see Juliet's knees on either side of her hips. The taller blonde remained kneeling over her so she wasn't giving the other woman the contact her face so obviously conveyed she wanted, all the time sporting a winning conceited grin.

When Kate reached up to try to pull her closer the blonde refused to be moved. "Mean." Kate said in an annoyed tone, knowing by the smug look on Juliet's face she was being tortured on purpose.

Juliet put her hands down on either side of the other woman's head leaning slowly over so she could whisper close to her ear, the only physical contact between them being the blonde's silky hair grazing her face and the exposed part of her chest and shoulders around the tank top she was wearing. "Easy," she said gently, "Don't you want me to explain make up sex to you?"

Kate quivered beneath her from just the sound of her voice. The beautiful young woman had never enjoyed 'talkers' in bed. However, Juliet's sultry feminine voice that permeated all of her senses whenever the other woman spoke to her while they were being intimate, always made her feel a little powerless and overwhelmed in such an agonizingly good way. It took a great amount of effort just to answer the other woman's question even after swallowing hard, "Yes. Please."

This time her _yes please _was anything but casual and polite, it made Juliet a little light headed, "Alright," she exhaled, being so close to Kate without actually touching her, making it difficult to maintain normal breathing, "Sometimes when two people who are kind of crazy about one another…" Juliet clarified in a deep velvety voice her lips brushing Kate's ear as she spoke, "When these people have a fight, they once in a while get a bit overly defensive. When they get scared for each other they sometimes say and do stupid things that they wish they could take back. Sometimes when they figure out that it was just a stupid argument and not the end of what they share, they get a little desperate to show one another just how much they need the other person."

She turned her head slightly, trying to push her ear closer to Juliet's lips unable to stop herself from grabbing hold of the blonde's firm backside and pulling her down so her crotch rested on her pelvis. Kate began moving her own hips in a barely perceptible circular motion that she knew would drive her partner wild. "And then what?" Kate asked anxiously.

Juliet felt the other woman arching into her center firmly. "Ahhh….then-" Sighing, she closed her eyes, losing her train of thought for a moment before forcing herself mostly back into the moment. "Then if their relationship is already of an intimate nature they sometimes get a bit overzealous in trying to make things up to the other person in a sexual manner."

"What do they do?" Kate turned her head a little so she could whisper huskily through her hair into the blonde's ear hoping to turn the tables on the woman who was making her feel a little too helpless in her intense desire.

Juliet fell forward more into the younger woman's body rapidly losing the game of who's the coolest under pressure; she forced herself to calm down knowing she had one last chance to remain on top. When she lifted and turned her head and saw the lust filling Kate's eyes she very nearly lost any semblance of restraint she may have been clinging to and in a shuddering tone eeked out, "I said I could show you."

Kate knew she was close to having the upper hand until she saw the blonde's eyes getting darker as her pupils dilated with want. Gazing up into those beautiful baby blues, Kate made a conscious decision to give over control to the other woman. Seeing that the blonde too was wrestling with her own longing, she spoke in a low surrendering voice, "Yes. Show me."

Juliet leaned in to kiss her lips firmly but chastely before pulling back to meet the other woman's eager gaze. She sat back on Kate's hips and pulled the petite younger woman up into a sitting position so she was now sitting in her lap. She slid her fingers under the hem of Kate's top her eyes locked on the other woman's as she pulled the material up.

Kate lifted her arms helpfully as she let the older woman slip her shirt over her head. She felt goose bumps rising on her flesh as one of Juliet's arms reached around her to easily unclasp her bra with one hand, the other brushing her cheek adoringly with the slightly calloused pads of her fingertips. She closed her eyes for a moment enjoying the chill running up her spine that didn't come from losing her top or Juliet's almost painfully searing touch, but from the intense way the other woman's eyes roamed over her exposed skin. With a deep audible breathe she opened her eyes again to find Juliet's eyes had made it back up to her own. Juliet never broke that gaze as she finished removing her bra with one hand and moved the other to run her fingers tenderly through her hair once again. Kate had seen a similar expression on many faces, maybe too many. The way people looked at you and you knew they wanted you…she knew that one by heart. Those glances couldn't come close to what she found in this woman's eyes. She was sometimes truly frightened that she would be lost in that all enveloping passionate stare.

Juliet let her eyes wander again away from the brunettes, as her gaze slipped down to her lips. She was always surprised by the immediate pooling of liquid heat she felt at her core when she saw that returned genuine need in the other woman's eyes. Sometimes she thought her brain actually short circuited a tiny bit and the rest of the world was gone, as she found herself aware of nothing but Kate.

Sensing Juliet was engaged in an epic inner struggle as she watched her eyes once again begin to drift down to her naked breasts, her eyes quickly followed by her hands now cupping the firm mounds and squeezing; Kate showed mercy and whispered gently to bring her back to reality. "And what happens after you take off my shirt?" She prompted, not wanting to embarrass Juliet at being caught staring.

"What? Huh?" Juliet's head shot up so their eye's met.

"Make-up sex…" Kate reminded her, sliding her hands up and down the blonde's back soothingly.

"Right," Juliet said focusing her eyes once again on Kate's face and smiling shyly. "Now you take off mine off."

Kate glanced down at her sweatshirt, remembering her throwing it on in the heat of the moment earlier, and knowing Juliet wore nothing underneath. She could hardly stop herself as she roughly grabbed at the bottom of the shirt and began to tug it up hastily.

Juliet laughed at the younger woman's impatience to relieve her of her top before meeting Kate's narrowing eyes. She couldn't resist letting her arms stay down for a second enjoying the younger woman's aggravation.

"Lady, if you don't start cooperating right now…" Kate let her voice trail of with a vague threat that merely served to make Juliet laugh louder before pulling her own shirt off and tossing it to the floor with the brunettes. Juliet's laugh virtually died on her lips when Kate's virtually lunged forward her mouth attacking one of her nipples, sucking it forcefully into her mouth before scraping her teeth along its length. She smiled exultantly as she felt the blonde's hips start to roll against her own.

Feeling herself arching so her breast was pushed harder to Kate's mouth she trembled with the effort of not letting Kate roll her over and take her, she had been very patient throughout Kate's game and now it was the brunette's turn to follow the rules of her game. Juliet pushed her away from her chest and down onto the bed as she enthusiastically angled her own head down to devour each of her nipples in turn. The blonde tensed and shook a little at the charmingly satisfied mewling she heard coming from Kate as the younger woman arched her back pushing her chest harder into the blonde's face. Juliet took hold of her hips urging her up onto the bed, never breaking the contact between her lips and the petite woman's breasts.

Kate let herself be awkwardly nudged and arranged into a more comfortable position on the bed until her head rested on the pillows, reaching around she placed her hand at the small of the other woman's bare back before slipping it just under the waistband of her sweats. She was moving underneath the other woman who lay atop her as she massaged one of Juliet's shapely ass cheeks. They were both breathing hard now as Juliet bit down on a nipple hard. Kate began to shake, her eyes shutting, growing more and more distracted by Juliet's attentions to her nipples. She was surprised when Juliet reached around her back and grabbed the other woman's wrist removing her hand from her pants, taking hold of the other with her other hand and pinning them to the pillow next to her face. She groaned loudly at the feeling of Juliet holding her down and scraping her teeth up the length of one of her rosy peaks and then the other. When she opened her now heavily lidded eyes and looked down she wasn't surprised to meet the other woman's gaze fixed on her face, studying her reactions as if they were the most important thing in the world. "Uhmmm….Juliet," She said in a strangled pleading tone.

Juliet stared intently at Kate's face unable to look away. God she was breathtaking…Juliet trembled as the younger woman's shoulders rose of the bed as if trying to push her entire breast into the blonde's mouth. Juliet opened wide, mouthing as much of the small firm breast as she could, and she felt Kate's whole back once again regain contact with the mattress at getting what she wanted. But she wasn't still for long as Juliet once again switched to the other soft mound offering it the same treatment. Kate's hips were gyrating excitedly against her own as she used her weight to push her harder into the mattress.

Kate began pulling away from the blonde's hands making them tighten their grip on her wrists. Juliet lifted her lips from her chest a little and spoke in a commanding tone, "Stop."

Kate moaned at the loss and her arms went limp as she stared mesmerized down into her lover's yearning eyes. Juliet's mouth was still close enough so she could feel her warm breath on her wet flesh.

"I just want to touch you." She said smiling up at the other woman all sugary sweetness. She knew this; she knew that Juliet sometimes needed to be in charge. She loved this more than she ever could have imagined when Juliet took up the mantle of dominant lover.

"No." The blonde said decisively, her eyes never leaving the younger woman's as her tongue came out from between her lips to lick small circles around her nipple loving the sound that Kate emitted when her tongue ran over the pebbled flesh, and enjoying the flutter of Kate's eyelids as she shuddered beneath her. "Too distracting…"

Kate smiled, watching her girlfriend curiously, almost amused, she knew that Juliet liked to be in complete control sometimes but she had never known why. "If I touch you you'll forget what you're doing?" she asked a little smugly.

"Sometimes when you look at me I forget what I'm doing." Juliet admitted shyly averting her eyes but not loosening her grip on the brunette as she began laying feathery chaste kisses along her clavicle.

Kate pondered this for a moment and then grinned as a light bulb seemed to switch on over her head. "What if I don't move my hands below your waist?" She could see the other woman's embarrassment combined with a healthy dose of skepticism. "What if I promise?"

Juliet loosened her grip slightly looking thoughtfully at the other woman. "You won't move your hands below my waist until I'm done with you?" She felt Kate's entire body quiver at the way she termed her condition and squirm more against the older woman who slid up so their breasts were now pressed tightly against one another, as her face loomed over her with a doubtful expression. "You think you can behave for me?" Juliet asked disbelievingly, trying to ask a serious question but unable to stop the slight upwards turn of her lips as she felt Kate submitting to her.

Kate parted her lips to speak but all that came out was a low moan as she nodded her head in the affirmative. She felt her wrists being freed and slowly moved her hands up to stroke Juliet's hair with one as the other came to rest on the blonde's shoulder.

They both remained frozen in place waiting to see if Kate was true to her word before Juliet leaned down to once again to claim those supple yielding lips. "I love you." She murmured softly against the corner of the smaller woman's mouth, before moving back to kiss her more fully, pushing her tongue in to explore the warm wet cavity.

"Mmmm…I love you too." Kate groaned into the other's mouth.

"I just want to make you feel good. I need to make you feel good." Juliet voice was a little choked as she tried to express the physical ache she felt for Kate. She moved her lips back to cover Kate's entirely, deepening the kiss.

Kate spread her legs, wrapping one around the other woman's hip shoving her soaking wet panties against the older woman's lower belly. "You are." She expressed simply but breathlessly as she broke the kiss, seeing Juliet sucking her own lower lip into her mouth so adorably, the look of utter determination in the blonde's features told the shorter woman how much she needed this.

Juliet could feel her own blood pulsing strongly through her veins, when her bare skin felt the copious moisture of Kate's heated center rubbing up against her. She wanted her so much. "Is this all for me?" She breathed; always astounded by the sense of sheer elation the other woman's arousal gave her.

Kate heard the mild tremor in Juliet's voice as she involuntarily pressed forward giving Kate the pressure she was craving. "Jesus-Yes!"

She could now feel the steady rhythm of Kate's hips moving in tight circles against her abdomen.

Juliet kissed across her cheeks as she felt Kate stiffen in her arms expectantly. When she finally nudged the hair out of her way she found and began suckling and nibbling on her ear lobe as she caressed down the exquisite body she had pinned to the bed beneath her, with just her fingertips. Releasing the fleshy lobe she moved her lips up slightly, "I love how wet you get for me…" she uttered almost reverently.

Kate's hand that had been running through her hair suddenly moved down to her lower back, trying to pull her closer. She needed this so much. She wanted Juliet to push her over the edge into that place where she was unaware and oblivious to all but Juliet's touch. She felt Juliet lifting herself up a bit as she stroked down until her hand that was between them was now resting just above the waistband of her underwear. Kate was shivering steadily now in anticipation to what the other woman was about to do to her. "I-ung," she was now moving herself hard against the other woman's stomach as her eyes rolled a little back in her head, shutting tightly against the waves of pleasure Juliet was causing to shoot through her every nerve ending. "I love how wet you make me."

The older woman was breathing hard, nearly matching the brunette's panting as Juliet's hand slid into her panties, her fingers stroking the length of her dripping slit, before finding her clit with her index finger and massaging it gently. Kate, who was groaning and writhing beneath her, thrust herself up into Juliet's hand.

Juliet's blood pressure shot through the roof as she felt the extent of the other woman's enthusiasm. She left soft open mouthed kisses down over her chin and to her throat, until she reached goal and began sucking hard at Kate's pulse, knowing it was silly and immature, but unable to help but mark the woman she loved.

Kate beamed, thrilled at the idea of Juliet giving her a hickey, but after a few seconds lost her patience and whimpered, "Pleeeaase, baby, inside…I-I need you –inside me!"

"Yesss…" Juliet's voice echoed Kate's desire angling her wrist around and lower so two of her fingers teased at the opening of the now urgently straining brunette.

She began licking and kissing the small bruise she had made, soothing the love bite as she slid the length of her index and middle fingers deeply into Kate warm supple entrance.

"Oh!" Kate surged forward her entire body arching of the bed lifting the other woman's weight with her own, as she met Juliet's first thrust, squeezing her eyes shut tightly her eyebrows furrowed together at the incredible pleasure Juliet was giving her.

"God Kate, you're so ready." Juliet gasped, amazed at the younger woman's energetic response.

"Ahhh…" Kate sighed happily matching the slow and steady rhythm the blonde began, stroking in and out of her, and the heel of her hand rubbing her clit on every inward thrust.

Juliet's even pattern of pushing and pulling faltered a little when she saw Kate's hooded eyes open to meet her own. "Sooo…oh-" Kate's gaze clouded for a second before she could finish her thought. "Gooood…"

The way the other woman was bucking against her caused Juliet to place her thigh between Kate's against the back of her hand to stay with her excited movements, at the same time pressing her own center to the strongly muscled thigh of her lover. She watched her face intently as the younger woman's inner muscles began pulling at her fingers and her suddenly frail looking body began to shake and twitch. "Good, Kate, that's it just give in to it," She whispered her lips very close to Kate's. "Just let go for me." She added curling her fingers up to push at that soft spongy tissue she knew would be her love's undoing.

Then Kate did. Juliet's inner ears hurt from the scream the brunette let loose so close to them, not that she cared in the slightest, as the blonde felt her entire body flush with satisfaction at Kate's body's beautiful responses to her efforts.

"Oh, Uhm, Oh! Juliet!" Kate squealed in a most undignified cry as she pumped herself hard into Juliet's hand. She was no longer even remotely in control of her faculties as her hand's crossed the line of Juliet's waist to hold Juliet's ass steady as she rode out her climax.

When she felt Kate stop jerking beneath her she slowly withdrew her fingers enjoying the last twitch she felt and the sated whimper at her movement against Kate's inner walls. Leaning up on one elbow she leaned over Kate grinning lewdly as she brought her fingers up and sucked them into her mouth slowly.

"Christ woman," Kate whined feeling another slow wave of ecstasy flow through her body, her eyes nearly crossing at the erotic image of Juliet tasting her thick sticky arousal. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"Ummm," Juliet leaned down to kiss her softly allowing Kate to taste herself on her lips before murmuring, "You know I've been trying to kill you since we met. "

Kate grinned against her lips, "Well I think you would have found me much more docile and cooperative if you had started out with this approach."

Juliet leaned back a little and smirked, "I'll keep that in mind for other prisoners of war I may be put in charge of."

Kate feigned a jealous possessive glare, "I don't think so." She said coolly.

Juliet sighed dramatically, "No more prisoners for me?"

"No more anyone for you." Kate said sternly. "You only get me."

"Geez Austin, that almost sounded like a marriage proposal." Juliet giggled.

"I would marry you right now if I could." Kate blurted out suddenly without thinking.

Juliet froze at the sincerity in the other woman's words, and then jokingly tried to shrug it off so Kate wouldn't feel cornered by what she said in the heat of the moment. "See make up sex can get very melodramatic."

Kate watched the other woman's eyes that were a little shiny as she fought the impulse to take anything they said in this moment too seriously. But there was something else there…a wishful hope. "Juliet," she reached up to cradle her face her thumb caressing her cheek softly. "I meant that."

Juliet's gulp was audible. She found that she was shivering hard at how much her lover's declaration meant to her. "Yeah?" She asked uncertainly.

"Without hesitation." Kate said leaning up to kiss the other woman's lips with all the love she felt for her.

Juliet melted into her as her chest seemed about to explode with joy. When she finally broke the kiss after long minutes gasping for oxygen and looked down at Kate she saw her own tear land on one of the freckled cheeks she adored. They stared at each other for a long moment.

"Would you…I mean-do you feel ahh…the same?" Kate asked tentatively, her eyes filled with fear of rejection.

"I do." Juliet assured her more with her expression of complete and total devotion, than her actual words.

Kate's face lit up like an incredible sunrise, causing Juliet's breath to catch in her throat briefly, "I think you broke me. I can't feel my legs, I don't know if I can even move."

"It's alright." Said Juliet sincerely not worried about her own needs at all, so thrilled with her lover's pronouncement.

"Not even close to alright," Kate muttered her eyes meeting her lover's with a mischievous glint. "I need you, I need to taste you."

"I-"Juliet began to again insist she was fine before her entire face split into a wide grin. "You want me to feed you?"

Kate nodded, her eyes darkening with her own lust.

Juliet crawled over her boneless lover sensually brushing against her, standing at the edge of the bed she removed her pants and then leaned down to remove Kate's ruined panties. "Why are you still wearing underwear, I hate when you wear underwear."

Kate giggled as the other woman's fingers tickled down her legs and then gazed up at her beautiful lover standing proudly and fully nude before her before her, all the mirth leaving her expression at the passion and need she saw in Juliet's eyes. Neither said another word as Juliet carefully climbed back onto the bed this time placing her open thighs over Kate's face.

Kate closed her eyes inhaling deeply as she covered Juliet's gorgeous rear end with her hands. "You smell so good."

Juliet trembled at Kate's statement feeling the younger woman's hot breath on her moist folds, wanting nothing more than to push herself down into Kate's mouth but forcing herself to wait. It was Kate's turn now…

Opening her eyes Kate stared at Juliet's glistening outer lips like a starving predator. She massaged the blonde's ass and leaned up to place a chaste kiss against the other woman's nether lips. She pulled her down onto her face and as her tongue ran up the length of Juliet to wrap her lips around her throbbing bundle of nerves, she watched rapt as Juliet began massaging her own breasts as she arched her back her head falling back. Kate paused in her ministrations gaping at the other woman like she was a goddess sent to earth to repay her for something wonderful she must have done in a past life.

Juliet's head tilted forward again so she could look down and meet the brunette's eyes. "Kate, please." She whimpered trembling with need.

Kate knew she was already too close and that this would not last nearly as long as she wanted it to but she couldn't deny her lover's heartfelt plea and moved back down using just her lips and tongue to part Juliet's dewy folds. When she pushed her tongue inside her as far is it would go she began swirling it around those smooth hot velvety walls, gathering as much of the other woman's pleasure as she could before curling it upwards as she pulled it back into her mouth. She quickly found a rhythm with Juliet's hips that were already rapidly rocking against her face. She wrapped one of her arms around the blondes hips so she could massage her clit as she fucked her with her tongue.

Juliet was on fire, she had been aroused since before they finished 'I Spy', and now that she finally felt Kate's warm talented muscle moving in and out of her she groaned and grunted in a very unladylike way. When she felt the tip of the younger woman's fingers squeezing and pulling on her clit she threw her head back again and tugged frantically at her own nipples shaking violently over the other woman.

Kate swallowed greedily when Juliet's sweet pussy gushed a small surge of creamy satisfaction into her mouth, moaning her approval. Juliet fell forward bracing her hands on the wall as she pushed harder into Kate feeling her orgasm building in her lower belly.

Kate more felt Juliet fall down beside her than saw it, as her eyes were pinched shut trying to focus on breathing through her nose and not suffocating. When she did open them she saw Juliet lying sprawled out beside her gasping for breath.

Kate could see she was still shaking and there was a tear threatening to fall from her closed eye. She swiftly rolled over pulling the blonde into her arms. She held her head gingerly to her chest stroking her hair and placing soft kisses on her cheek and forehead. "Are you Ok?"

Juliet couldn't respond, couldn't do anything accept let herself be cocooned in Kate's warm loving embrace.

"Thank you." Juliet whispered almost inaudibly.

Kate placed her fingers under the older woman's chin and tilted her head up, "Open those gorgeous eyes for me."

Juliet took a bracing deep breath and forced herself to look up at Kate with a stunned expression.

"That good huh?" Kate said with an arrogant expression.

"Yes." Juliet turned her head kissing the side of Kate's breast her expression remaining serious, "That good."

Kate laughed softly pulling her closer. After a few minutes of silently basking in the afterglow Juliet's belly rumbled, Kate stretched and groaned smiling widely. "You need food, It appears I used up all your energy."

"Egomaniacal much?" Juliet deadpanned.

"I'm just saying…"Kate grinned disentangling herself from the blonde and sitting on the edge of the bed.

She laughed louder when she felt Juliet weakly smack her in the shoulder, in her opinion, further evidence of her prowess in bed as if that was proof of how she wore the other woman out. "God if that's the hardest you can hit, I need to get some nourishment into you- pronto." She said standing up naked and unashamedly moving over to the fire where she left the soup close but not on the direct flames, she put it back on the grill and walked into the kitchen.

Juliet knew she was ogling the brunette but couldn't help it. The slightly exaggerated sway in the younger woman's hips was clearly intentional and very effective, and she sighed softly disappointed as Kate moved around the corner, out of her sightline.

A moment later, Kate returned carrying two identical packages of crackers, hermetically sealed in grey foil. They had had a small flood mishap a week ago and got rid of the entire pile of wet cardboard they peeled of the bags, knowing it would grow mold. Unfortunately it hadn't occurred to them to separate the different kinds of crackers or mark them somehow. So now they had mystery crackers.

The game they accidentally invented around this conundrum of how to pick the right cracker, started out with one of them grabbing two bags out of the covered bin they now kept them in and the other would choose one. Once opened there was no throwing the valuable edible calories away so they were stuck with them until they were gone, so if they decided to eat another bag first then the yucky ones would get even yuckier by becoming stale.

Juliet narrowed her eyes at the two bags critically, obviously trying to turn on some kind of x-ray vision. She could easily recognize her favorite, wheat thins, if she was allowed to touch the bags…but that would be cheating. "Right hand." She announced her decision confidently.

Kate darted back into the kitchen to throw the other bag back in the bin and closing it before rushing back to the living room starting to feel a chill. They had both agreed it was too tempting to open the other bag they had out if they hit on some gross 'liver and onion' or 'cheddar and bratwursts' flavored crackers. The range of flavors for the Dharma crackers was just a little bit disturbing.

Juliet, who had gotten beneath the covers in Kate's absence, held the blanket back for the younger woman to jump under totally exaggerating her shiver as she pressed herself tightly against the blonde.

"Kate your skin doesn't feel that cold." Juliet snickered.

"Shut up," Kate felt her cheeks reddening as she buried her face in her lover's chest. "I'm obviously freezing."

Juliet glanced down at the contented face resting against her breast and smiled pulling her so their bodies were almost flush. "Of course you are honey." She soothed moving down to kiss the top of her head as her hands ran up and down her back with heat causing friction.

Kate rested lazily in Juliet's arms until she once again heard her lover's belly beckoning to her to feed her girlfriend. Kate pried herself out of Juliet's arms that were none too eager to release her. "You need to eat."

"Said the pot calling the kettle black," Smiled Juliet, her voice sardonic, tracing her fingers down her lover's spine as she once again rose off the bed. Kate removed the soup carefully from the heat and quickly filled the two bowls with soup. She hurriedly set up a TV dinner table and once she had their settings situated on the table she sat down next to Juliet on the edge of the bed so their outer bare thighs pressed against one another as she felt the taller woman pull the quilt up around their shoulders.

"You chose," Kate smiled looking down at the bag between them, "You open."

Juliet glanced up cynically at the younger woman, "That's the problem with your generation," She grumbled, "Always wanting to pass the buck." Then she confidently plucked the bag of the table and tore it open. They both eagerly glanced down at their bounty and then at each other, Kate grimacing at Juliet's demonstrative victorious look.

"Wheat Thins." Kate glanced down at the bag tiredly. "I would almost swear your psychic sometimes." She moped.

"I thought you liked wheat thins," Juliet said confused and a bit concerned.

"I love wheat thins," Kate answered quickly, before folding her hands in her lap and staring down at them embarrassed."It's just-"

"What Kate?" Juliet inquired anxiously.

"Sometimes I just feel like you're too smart than me, or at least too lucky." She mumbled.

"You are definitely the cleverer of the two of us." Juliet insisted her tone not containing single doubt as her arm wrapped around her shoulder.

Kate smiled a little, "How ya figure?"

"You fell in love with me right?" Her eyes twinkled at her own skewed logic .

Kate grinned pushing her side in closer to the other woman as she took a bite of her stew; Juliet nudged her back smiling until her eyes settled on Kate's bowl that contained little to no meat in it.

"Kate," she just barely managed to keep the anger out of her voice, "Why isn't there any meat in your bowl. " She asked through gritted teeth.

Kate jerked her head up to meet Juliet's eyes suddenly realizing what Juliet thought. "No," she insisted reassuringly, "It's not what you think."

Juliet continued to glare at her accusingly. "You're not giving me the most nutrition selflessly?"

"Uh-uh." Kate shook her head and then bowed it ashamed of her wimpy behavior. "I just didn't want to eat thumper. "

Juliet's jaw dropped in shock. "Seriously?"

"And don't bring up how it tastes the same as chicken if you haven't seen chicken run." Kate said defensively.

Juliet stifled a laugh as she hugged the adorably sweet younger woman tighter to her. "Baby….I hate to break it to you, but you might not only be a lesbian but a vegetarian."

"Am not!" Kate raised her voice, her eyes darting up to meet the other woman's defiantly. "I love steak."

Juliet fell backwards to the bed laughing hard trying not to spill their soup.

"What?" Kate asked indignantly standing up and gaping at the other woman

"You're like a backwards vegetarian!" her laugh only grew as she held her stomach and fell backwards on the bed in a fit of giggles.

"Think about it-a cow can could kind of fight back-it outweighs us by what? A ton? Chickens and bunnies, they're virtually defenseless. "Kate said crossing her arms over her chest defensively before she realized how ridiculous she must look standing there buck naked.

Juliet sat back up and lifted the table moving it away from the bed carefully, before moving over to hug her pouting girlfriend who remained tense and edgy. "I love that you don't want to eat cute little thumper, although the chicken thing is went over my head."

Kate laughed relaxing against the taller woman. "Ok so their was this like factory farm…and all these sweet little hens and a flying rooster…" She began to explain as they sat back down pulling the table back in front of them.

Ben had files, extensive files, for everyone that he knew of on the island. He had an analytical mind and it helped him to keep his thoughts and plans in order. While he had a file for everyone else he had a room for Juliet. It was a small secret little space hidden behind the closet in his office. The walls were papered with everything Dr. Juliet Burke. He had copies of her records from childhood pediatrician visits to her diploma for graduating from medical school. Pictures of her rivaled the many documents though. He knew it was an obsession and not a healthy one, but he had images of the incredibly beautiful woman that had owned his heart since minute one of meeting her, all over the walls.

He knew she would never feel the same as him, but someday with the right motivation (ammunition), he might be able to coerce her into giving him a chance. He would wait patiently until that set of perfect circumstances came along and he could make her his. He just had to be patient and being patient was his specialty. Eventually she would have to realize he was really the only one on this island that could take care of her properly ensuring her safety.

It was just a matter of time.

Silas entered the hatch of his shelter fully aware of the set of eyes that had been following him since he heard the twig snap in the jungle right after he missed his opportunity to take the devil that held his wife. He knew now that the time he had assumed he had to handle this matter was quickly coming to an end and he now needed to push his plans up, if he ever wanted to get his family back.

Tomorrow, he thought, it had to be tomorrow.

TBC

'


	18. Chapter 18

Title: experiments part 18

Author:

Fandom: Lost

Pairing: Kate/Juliet

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost, the island or its characters. This is not for profit, just for fun.

Silas opened the duffle he had been carrying when he had been about to take the brunette. He checked over his gear once more, and then left it at the base of the ladder with the tranquilizer gun unloaded, checked, cleaned and reloaded.

He ate a quick but nourishing meal of nut's, dried meat, and some canned vegetables he had pilfered from one of the strange, but somehow familiar, houses when they first appeared. After feeding his body he had prayed for some peace of mind so he could rest himself for what he needed to do next, falling into a fitful sleep on his bunk he dreamt of the last few months he had been observing Sarah and her _companion._

He really hadn't paid much attention two the two people he saw wandering off into the jungle shortly after the phenomenon occurred. He had spent almost a full day watching the compound for any other signs of activity after they left before he cautiously ventured into the first building. Thrilled at the bounty he found in the houses when they first appeared, he thanked his lord once again, God really did provide in the most unusual ways.

After they had been gone for a few day without returning, he was still carefully picking and choosing what he absolutely needed and bringing it back to his home underground, very stealthily, ever aware of his surroundings to make sure he wasn't being tracked or observed. He knew about the Dharma Initiatives peculiar research with nature. With the knowledge of people disappearing under the guise of being returned to the real world by means of the sub, the sub that people who weren't departing on or arriving on rarely caught a glimpse of, he could only assume their experiments extended into a terrifying addition of using human beings in the broadening of the exploration into what made this mystical island tick, what it was truly capable of… or meant for.

He had actually been taking notes on the arrangement of the buildings and the best location to set up house for he and his family, who he had never lost hope of one day returning to him. He knew it had been hard for a woman and children living in an old abandoned bomb shelter. He still had sketches of the home he had been planning on building for them before Emmett had left them. He had still been trying to keep positive then, when he had still believed that everything would work out for the best, even if they were trapped here forever. At least the four of them had each other.

When the two strangers had returned looking haggard and worn, but obviously starting to settle in for a long stay, he had been disappointed. After some thought though, he wondered if they weren't also a gift from the heavens. He knew how hard it was for his wife to be without other people for company, he had often blamed her clear and raw loneliness for her weakness when the strange new group had seduced her away from her true place. Maybe these others, who were at least normal enough to live in houses, and not exist in some strange supernaturally protected primitive jungle camp, were actually meant to help him create a new place for him and his family. The houses a place of normalcy, in the mess that was the island, the furthest thing from normal he could imagine.

He had not really dared get close enough to really observe them, until one afternoon when he found them working in the garden. He was surprised to see that they were both female (expecting a couple for some reason) this had thrown him a bit but also given him an added confidence in the idea of approaching and trying to befriend them. What danger could two women be? When he thought about it further he realized they probably needed his help. They had plenty of supplies for now, but he knew when they ran out they would clearly need a man to hunt and protect them from the many dangers that surrounded them here at all times. He knew it was his responsibility to befriend them and warn them of those that hid behind the boundary, before they were seduced away into that ungodly existence, as his wife had been.

It was a bright and sunny day, when he had gone out of his way to make himself presentable for first introductions. The taller one was once again working in the garden as he approached, the other nowhere in sight. He had paused there at the edge of the trees knowing it would be better to advance when they were together as not to frighten them. As he stood there, he watched the lone woman toiling with her back to him. There was something he recognized in her quick decisive manner of work that struck a chord deep within him, when she had removed her hat with the large rim she had been using to block the sun; he felt his pulse seem to drum faster through his veins at the flurry of wild golden curls he noted on her head. She stood to stretch and wipe the perspiration from her forehead, before replacing the hat and his heart seemed to want to beat out of his chest.

It was Sarah. He studied her closely, his mind not quite willing to believe what his eyes were seeing. She hadn't seemed to age since she had taken their baby girl and left him. _How? _His mind ran circles around his head trying to explain the age discrepancy, but no matter how much he tried to deny the visage before him, it was clearly his wife. That place she had gone off to obviously held some tempting unnatural fountain of youth properties, he had not been aware of until then.

When his inner alarm clock awakened him a couple of hours later he felt rested and slightly euphoric with the knowledge that today was the day…the day when everything would be put right. He spent a little while washing and praying before silently gathering his things and climbing up to the surface. He opened the hatch quietly, carefully listening for whoever he had heard following him the night before, before venturing into the predawn dark.

Juliet awoke the next morning with an dull ache in her thigh and winced, groaning a little from Kate's knee that was pressed hard into her muscle. She drew her leg back gently, not wanting to jar the other woman. Looking lovingly down at the slightly restless expression on her face, she realized this was the perfect term for Katherine Austin, and clearly that restlessness carried over into her sleeping time. She wondered if someday the brunette would get over this wild fitful nature of hers, and then thought about whether or not she would want her to. She knew that the rash impetuous spirit barely contained in her tiny little frame was a huge draw for her; the complete opposite of her always overanalyzed and prepared for anything temperament.

She lay there very still studying her features, her eyes twitching behind closed lids, clearly dreaming with her head pillowed on Juliet's chest her arm wrapped snugly around her waist. Occasionally she thought this time, when she would wake before the younger woman and just watch her sleep, was her favorite part of the day. She remembered that Kate had mentioned that they had to go reset the snare she had left unstrung when she heard Juliet calling for her the previous evening. After giving her thigh a little time for the kink to work itself out she began to try to inch out from underneath her.

"No." Kate's word was clearly spoken and she froze looking down at her again, possitive she was awake. After observing her even breathing again though she realized the protest had been from her subconscious and she again began to gingerly pull away. This time she managed to untangle herself without much objection, other than a small whine of protest when she covered her up where her body had been with the heavy quilt. She leaned down to kiss her brow tenderly and grinned satisfied with Kate's peaceful exhalation.

After using the facilities and getting dressed she scribbled out a quick note that she left on the night stand and grabbed the gun to head off to take care of the trap and do a few other tedious chores before her lover woke up. She locked the front door and then double checked it before moving away from the house, her muscles feeling a little pleasantly overworked from the previous night's activities; she stretched and then started a slow jog to the tree line needing to work out the kinks. She smiled at the aches and pains she felt her body exhibit in protest to her exertion and thought amused that they would need to start doing something to exercise or they would both wind up fat and lethargic before the next summer.

He heard the movement from the basement where he had waited for morning to arrive. After prying the small window that was at ground level open and wiggling inside to wait for them to wake he had spent most of his time praying for strength to be able to carry out god's obvious plans. When he heard one of them moving around he had tippy toed up the basement stairs to peer out the slightly ajar door seeing his wife move around the kitchen. He smiled noting it was Sarah, she had always been an early riser, but frowned a bit when she made herself a cup of instant coffee. She was always a tea drinker saying caffeine made her edgy. He was not mad though, she had probably come to rely on many unhealthy habits having to rely on the heathens for her only support.

Once he heard her exit and lock the door he quietly walked through the kitchen and peered around the corner into the living room where the other woman still slept. He was pleased when he decided the gun wouldn't even be necessary and pulled out the small bottle of chloroform wrapped in the clean rag. He had been a little nervous about using the gun with the sedative dart, knowing it had been intended for rather large game, but was prepared to do whatever he had to.

Standing over the creature that appeared to be an innocent young woman he felt himself begin to feel an odd sense of guilt at the notion of harm coming to her. He quickly quelled these feelings, knowing that was how evil worked, slowly instilling tiny little niggling doubts into the faithful, making them impotent to fight its insidious immorality and wickedness. No, he could not allow himself to hesitate. He knew he needed to be strong and do what was required of him. Leaning over her with the now chemically doused rag, he grabbed hold of her shoulder holding her down firmly as he covered her nose and mouth.

He watched her eyes shoot open, filled with terror and had to force himself not to relent in his actions. It only took a moment before her eyes once again rolled around in their sockets loosely before falling into unconsciousness. Closing his own eyes for a moment forcing himself to relax, he left the rag there for a few added seconds, until he was certain the heathen was actually unconscious.

Once sure he acted quickly, not knowing how long he had before Sarah returned. While he was pretty sure he had not been followed in the wee hours of the morning, he had decided that his safest course of action was to forget about moving her to the room he had prepared for Sarah to take care of her demon. He wrestled to lift the unconscious form of Kate over his shoulder, she was very light but he was well advanced in his years and shamefully had to admit his efforts to keep himself physically fit since his family left him had been sorely lacking. As he struggled to carry her upstairs he silently vowed that once this whole mess was over and done with he, Sarah and Hannah would immediately begin a new fitness regimen.

He actually fell into the chair still next to the bed, when he finally relieved himself of the added weight, tossing Kate's limp form on the bed. It took him several minutes to catch his breath before he was able to continue. Forced to make do with his new circumstances he dropped his duffle that was still on his back and began rifling through it for the ties he would use to bind the demon he had successfully subdued. He seemed to notice for the first time that she was completely and unabashedly nude, his ire began to rise at the thought of that evil tempting and seductive flesh pressed against his poor Sarah just a short time before. Quickly grabbing the folded nap blanket at the foot of the bed, he covered her, not even trusting himself to not be swayed by that beautiful appealing form Lucifer had chosen. He sighed once again, feeling badly at how harshly he had first judged Sarah for her weakness, how he could possibly condemn her when he himself was tempted made him vow to himself to be extra kind to his love throughout this horribly disturbing ritual he knew with absolute clarity was entirely necessary for them to move on . The flesh was weak, he reminded himself, but the spirit could overcome anything with faith and help from their lord.

He quickly used the silk tie, two lengths of rope he thought were not too rotten, and a belt he had quickly gathered last night to tie the-the-,well he didn't really know what she was, to the bed frame. Once she was securely fastened spread eagle to the bed, he used the duct tape to cover her mouth. He listened with concern as he did this to make sure she was still breathing steadily under her gag, once certain she was ok he reached into the bag for the revolver he had brought with them in their initial escape from the Dharma Initiative barracks to hide in the shelter. Throughout the years he had kept it, the two rifles, machete and couple of knives he had taken with him as tools of defense and survival in perfect condition. No matter how overwhelming the sense of defeat that smothered him, he knew these would someday be needed to defend his family and now that time was here. As he sat there smiling proudly at all he had accomplished he once again spent his time thanking his lord for the strength to help his wife do what she must to escape this insidious interloper that prevented them from their once and now future peaceful and happy existence.

The group that crossed the boundary early that morning was a serious and determined lot. They each had their own feelings and opinions on what had been decided, but regardless of their own personal issues with the verdict, they respected that it was decided. Once the group, community, tribe…came to a united judgment they always appreciated that resolution, no matter what their own thoughts told them was right or wrong. It was truly the purest form of democracy.

They split up on the way to the compound. Sim and two of the other men stayed behind to monitor any movement by Silas, keeping their distance but a close eye on the hatch as the others continued through the jungle toward their goal of befriending the new comers.

The front door opened and closed quietly and even from the upstairs bedroom, in the silent house, he could hear Sarah enter the kitchen. It remained quiet for a moment before he heard his wife calling out for the other woman. The second time she called out; he crossed himself hastily and dropped the heavy book on the bedside table to the floor to alert Sarah to their presence upstairs. After that he turned the chair toward the door so he would see her coming and carefully released the safety on the gun pressing the barrel to Kate's temple.

Juliet had felt herself become flooded with relief when she heard the sound from overhead. She knew she had been on the brink of freaking out when Kate wasn't in their bed or the bathroom. Smirking self deprecatingly at her irrational reaction, knowing she had been about to become hysterical again, she placed the gun in its place and threw her slicker over the hook in the kitchen. Then she started upstairs to surprise her girlfriend who evidently hadn't heard her call when she came in. When she reached the open door of her bedroom she stopped short-suddenly chilled to the bone with fear.

Her eyes were glued to Kate's form lying on the bed, obviously unconscious. She could see her feet and hands peeking out from under the light blanket that covered her. They were securely fastened to the frame. As her heart clenched in a tight tense knot she took a deep breath forcing her brain to calmy and methodically assess the situation. She knew how to do this of course, before there were just she and Kate, this is what she did. Kate's head hung to rest on her shoulder in a rather uncomfortable looking position, but upon further examination she saw the other woman's chest was rising and falling in a relaxed and unencumbered way. She forced her anger down at the sight of the duct tape covering her loves mouth and her right hand growing darker at the lack of circulation from the stupidly tight binding it was tied in.

She felt herself instinctually moving forward to free Kate when she heard the click the gun made when the man cocked the weapon pointed to the brunette's head, the sound made her freeze. That's when she looked up to meet the frail looking elderly man's eyes. Her thoughts were racing as she wanted to rush him. There was no doubt in her mind she could pummel him, and would if necessary to protect her partner, he really looked quite harmless. The weapon digging into Kate's tender flesh however belayed any impulses she had to follow through with any crazy sudden impulses.

Her eyes darted back to Kate fearfully once more before she turned to face their attacker with perfectly still, cold calculating eyes. "What do you want?" She asked quickly. First things first, determine what the other side's demands were, then and only then would she be able to evaluate her ability or desire to meet the stipulations of her enemy.

The startled and confused expression on the man's face made her worry a little more. Dealing with emotionless straight up killers, in her experience, had been easier than reasoning with those who couldn't be reasoned with. Didn't matter, she told herself, holding the man's gaze. She would just figure out what needed to be done and do it.

The group stopped at the tree line to the south of the house. Among them were Landow, Sarah, and another one of the village elders, Gemma. Though Hannah had not been invited she refused to stay behind and due to that fact, Gowan could not be stopped from coming too. Most of the walk the children's parents had stewed and growled a bit under their breath about their daughter's constant disobedience.

Gemma had been here for a very long time. She didn't have any family. As far as anyone recalled she had never even tried to create one. She grinned inwardly thinking back on the younger ones in the village complaining of her being a busy body for as long as she could remember. She smiled to herself affectionately. .. Knowing she was just that. She did often interfere in other people's business, although if they were to think about it, even for a second, they would have realized she was at least invited into the matter if not downright bothered for her help over the last dozen or so years. It still tickled her that she was sometimes thought of as a nosy, over exuberant pest rather than a wise old woman.

Gemma had always felt so close to _everyone_ that she never felt the need to forge any tighter bonds. She actually didn't want too, knowing it would distract her from giving equal attention to all of her true family, the entire village. There were rumors passed down as to the origin of Gemma MacPherson, but no one really knew how she came to be here as she was the probably the oldest and definitely the longest resident of their community. She always had a mirthful twinkle in her eye which people bitterly but lovingly explained as not having to deal with spouses, siblings, or offspring.

Listening to two of her fellow elders, she smirked behind her scarf. She had always been fond of Landow and Sarah, amused to no ends by their overprotective natures toward their children. Landow had once asked her to council his daughter Gowan, on her budding relationship with the older and obvious bad influence that was Hannah Vishnu. She had listened patiently with a very serious expression on her face to all of his concerns, and nodded emphatically; reassuring him she would have a talk with his stubborn confused child.

Of course that's just what she did. She had asked a sixteen year old Gowan to help her gather some berries for pies she intended to make for an upcoming celebration. She very honestly explained her ulterior motives once they were out of hearing range of the huts, she told her of her father's concerns and where they stemmed from, wanting the girl to understand her father only wanted the best for her. Then she hugged her and told the young woman she was very happy for her. She could see that Hannah was good to and for her, and wished them much happiness.

When Hannah had come to her, it wasn't at her mother's insistence, it was out of her own concern that she was doing something bad, something wrong…and that she did not wish to hurt her mother with this.

After reassuring the young woman she was doing nothing wrong, she had advised that she have a talk with Sarah. She herself sensed the young woman's mother would understand, if only a little worried for her daughter's feelings, them being so opposite to the beliefs she was raised with.

Currently she listened to each of the daughters telling their respective parents to hush as they didn't want to scare the poor new people, and had to stifle a laugh.

Silas stared at the blonde. He had been able to explain away her age with the fountain of youth theory, which on this island was not even remotely farfetched. He had not yet been this close to her though and while her mannerisms, build and hair had so reminded him of Sarah…his rational mind told him that was not her face. "What did they do to you?" He questioned in a frightened tone.

"What?" Juliet asked confused her eyes never leaving his.

He knew what could be done with makeup nowadays. The movies always made the actors look different than they did in real life. That must be it; at least he hoped that was it, he had also heard of facial reconstruction. Plastic Surgery they called it, where man had the gall to interfere with the perfection of any face god created. Swallowing hard he stared at her nose, everything else could be makeup, but he remembered when they were ice skating on their first anniversary and his wife had fallen, breaking her nose. The doctor had told them he could fix it; make her as good as new, he said. Silas had laughed and holding his wife's hand informed him "No thank you." God had let her fall, how she looked was not up to them, it was up to him. Of course as far he was concerned she was still perfect.

Her eyes were the same though that bright deep ocean blue that never failed to created butterflies in his stomach whenever he saw them. He smiled again, losing his insecurity, knowing once again for sure this was his Sarah. It wasn't her fault if they did things to her.

Juliet watched the man's expression carefully. He was looking at her as if he knew her. Her brain went through every face she could remember that even came remotely close to his, but still she couldn't place him. This confirmed her conclusion that he was not in a clear frame of mind. Her eyes darted to the prone figure of Kate once more before she mentally forced herself back to the situation she currently needed to be dealing with.

Forcing her posture to relax she took a few timid steps toward the chair where he sat, before she stopped when she noticed his bicep on the arm that was holding the gun stiffen slightly. She stopped very gracefully and slowly continuing to meet his eyes. She had learned a trick in her psychology rotation that sometimes it was best to meet confusion with equal confusion. She did not want him to think she was under the impression that she knew better than him. The delusion could be shattered and with it the control of the delusional. She knew all that was stopping him from killing Kate was the current, though obviously threadbare control, he held on reality.

"What do you mean?" She inquired passively.

"Sarah." He breathed, "Your nose, they changed it."

Ok, Juliet thought with a bit of confidence knowing that the man obviously had no real conflict with her; he had her mistaken for someone else. He was maybe in his mid sixties, and sometimes people of that age began to deteriorate very quickly. Though she had never really dealt with any early dementia patients she had always stayed well updated on all the latest medical journals, at least until the latest medical journals coming out had been published when she was in reality six or seven years old. She just had to keep him calm; hopefully he would come out of it on his own. He could see he was having doubts in his own fantasy the way he looked at her with a hint of uncertainty.

"It's alright." She spoke in a reassuring tone. "I'm alright now."

"Yes," he smiled happily. "It will all be alright now."

When she went to move closer toward him, she immediately stayed herself mid step, when he raised his other hand to stop her, "Don't come any closer." And she couldn't help but glance at Kate as she saw the sharp metal circle of the end of the gun digging even harder into her temple. She felt like she wanted to fall to her knees and vomit, begging for her lover's life but knew that wouldn't accomplish anything.

"No." she put up her own hands placating. "No? Why?" She asked sensing the man wanted to trust her.

He looked over at the brunette causing her to do the same, and they both noticed Kate's eyes fluttering open. Juliet met her girlfriend's panicked expression desperately trying to convey that she should stay calm and Juliet would take care of everything, even if she didn't completely believe that in her own mind.

Forcing herself to look at the man's expression abandoning Kate's silent plea for help, she saw the intense anger and hatred there. She was more afraid than she had ever been in her life, looking at the stranger and knowing with a confidence she was not happy about that he would just love to pull the trigger ending her beautiful love's existence. "Why can't I come closer?" She asked in a voice so even and balanced, it surprised herself.

She breathed a motionless sigh of relief when his attention was once more directed at her. "Sarah," Silas spoke patiently looking directly into his wife's eyes, "You're not yourself."

"Of course I'm not." She agreed lowering her eyes and voice submissively.

"It's not your fault." He argued quickly forgetting any discrepancies in his wife's appearance when she spoke to him in such a sad apologetic voice. "You just got lost."

When Juliet raised her eyes they were filled with tears, sensing that's what he expected from whoever Sarah was. She of course had no trouble producing them as she felt like the deadly weapon the lunatic was holding was actually pointed at her own heart. "I know that now." She agreed.

"Good." He seemed to lose ten years of tension at her quiet admission. "That's good."

She took another half a step as his eyes closed with a great sigh of relief. When he opened them again he was smiling and hadn't seemed to notice her movement. "I knew you would see the truth. I knew you would recognize their lies in the end," He glared at Kate once again. "Her lies."

"Of course," she felt as if every one of her muscles was twitching just under her skin, she was almost sure she could catch him off guard if she moved fast enough. She could knock the gun away from Kate before it went off…but what if she couldn't. No. She had to play this cool, not be over eager, allow him think he was swaying her. "But now I see the truth." She smiled hopefully, "Now we can go."

"No!" He raised his voice a little in frustration before looking at Sarah's worried expression. "I'm sorry sweetheart, it's not you I'm upset with."

"It's alright." She again looked diminutively toward the floor worried that she had just lost her chance. "I know you just want what's best for me."

"Yes, yes, of course you know that. I knew all you had to do was look into my eyes again to see the truth." He said with such unnatural joy it sent shivers up the blonde's spine. "Now we just have to take care of her and everything will be alright again."

Juliet's chest constricted as her breath hitched in her throat. "What do you mean, take care of her?"

He explained simply as if he were directing someone to I-95. He lowered his eyes a little but not the gun. "I saw you. I know what she made you do. Don't worry you were the victim of an agent of the devil. You will surely be forgiven. All you need to do is end that which tempted you and you will once again be free." He reasoned with a silly almost childlike smile on his face.

"E-End..?" She stammered uncertainly.

"Kill her." He smiled wider and she swallowed hard wondering how exactly she was supposed to save Kate from herself.

TBC


	19. Chapter 19

Title: experiments part 19

Author: Why bother? No matter how many times I write my pen name it never shows up…hey what if I'm sneaky and mumble under my breath.

Fandom: Lost

Pairing: Kate/Juliet

Disclaimer: Lost, Kate Austin, Juliet Burke and the Island…so not mine.

It all happened very quickly after Silas said that. Both he and Juliet seemed to be only aware of each other as their gazes locked. Silas stood up still pointing the gun at Kate's head and Juliet began carefully inching her way little by little trying to put her body between Kate and the bullet that she knew the gun held. Kate's eyes widened with horror as she realized what the other woman was doing. The younger woman began to struggle and try to cry out underneath her gag.

Juliet noticing Kate's distress, glanced over at her lover trying to give her a reassuring look before turning back to focus her attention on the man standing before her. Neither Juliet nor Silas noticed the others approaching, however Kate who was prone, panicked and immobile, heard it. The kitchen door opening quietly and then the soft footfalls on the stairs and her head spun around, wondering what other strange character was about to make an appearance in what she had previously thought was their own private little utopia.

She barely saw the woman peering in from the hallway, still out of Silas' view. The woman pressed her finger to her lips as if to warn her to be quiet. Her own slightly hysterical laughter was filling her head as she wondered what the strange old lady thought she was gonna say to give her away, what with her mouth securely covered in duct tape.

"Why does she have to die?" Juliet asked fumbling desperately for anything that might stall this lunatic.

"What?" Silas asked puzzled.

"We could just go. She's bound, she can't follow us. We'd be safe and together." The blonde reasoned trying to keep her tone calm.

Silas looked at her for a moment and then back at Kate. "But what she did to you-she must pay. He demands it!"

Ok so the religious zealot variety of nutcase, Juliet thought bleakly. Her family had never been very religious, and if she were asked to give a bible quote, she was not certain she could come up with better than-and in the beginning-something about light and it being good. She held his gaze though knowing that she could not argue with this man. Nodding her head in hesitant acceptance she said. "I understand, but wouldn't it be better if we turned the other cheek?"

His face twisted once again in thought for a moment but then he seemed to come to a conclusion. The next thing that happened shocked everyone present. He carefully uncocked the gun turning it away from Kate's head and handed it over to Juliet handle first. "Sarah, I wish it were that simple but you know the truth requires an eye for an eye."

Juliet wanted to melt to the floor at the respite she felt. For a moment no one moved, but the doctor was shaking hard as she cocked the gun and suddenly pointed it at the old man. "Don't move."

Silas' eyes went wide with shock. "No, Sarah." He whispered disbelievingly.

"My name is not Sarah." Juliet said through gritted teeth, still trying to catch her breath which seemed to be stuck in the back of her throat.

"Of course you are-"He began to insist when the woman that only Kate was aware of came slowly around the corner.

"Silas," Sarah said softly.

The old man's head shot up to meet his real wife's eyes. "Oh." He whimpered bewildered, "I don't understand."

Juliet whipped her head around unnerved at the new voice behind her but her hand still held the gun steadily pointed at the man that had threatened Kate.

"Silas, you are confused." She said moving into the room trying to put herself between her husband and the rather frazzled looking young blond woman.

"Stop!" Juliet said stepping to the left so the gun remained trained on what she perceived as the main threat to her love.

The older woman turned to face her and Juliet looked into eyes that were very similar to her own, although her hair was heavily streaked with grey, she could see the little bit of blonde curls that were left, and they were about the same size, although Sarah was a little stooped with age. "I'm sorry," she said simply, "He is not well."

"No shit." Juliet said angrily still unwilling to lower the weapon although she was relaxing a little and kept stealing worried glances over at her girlfriend. Finally she realized that this strange woman was trying to do what she had been trying mere moments before, to use her own body as a human shield for her loved one.

The older woman smiled understandingly at her deadpan response before turning back to Silas, "Who am I?"

Silas looked for a moment as if he might fall apart right there. "You're Sarah."

"That's right," She reassured putting a hand on his shoulder. "And who is holding the gun?"

"She's not you…" He said as he began to realize the terrible mistake he had been about to make. Then he was on the ground sobbing.

Sarah winced at the sight of the only man she had ever loved. The man who had always been so strong lying on the floor so beaten and broken before her.

When she directed her eyes back to Juliet they were silently pleading. Juliet understood and put the safety back on the weapon before hurrying over to Kate. She was tearing at the knot that held her right wrist, her hand now almost dark purple, when she heard the others entering. Her head jerked around, her hand instantly once again grabbing the gun lying next to Kate on the bed. They held their hands up in a supplicant fashion and after a deep breath she went back to undoing the amateurish knot. When she was done untying the dangerously tight binding she began to massage the circulation back into her partner's hand with one of her own, her other moving up to caress her cheek, their eyes locked.

Kate saw the warning and regret in the blondes expression and simply nodded as she took hold of the edge of the gag. "Oww!" She cried as the tape was torn from her tender lips.

"God! I'm sorry!" Juliet cried equaling the other woman's volume as her hand went back to rest on her cheek and she bent to brush her lips softly against the brunette's. Her eyes shut as she felt a wave of relief wash over her, kissing those beautiful warm and so very much alive lips once again. Her eyes popped open and she broke the kiss when she felt the moisture on her own cheeks. When she looked at Kate she noticed the younger woman was shaking violently and tears were streaming from her eyes that were squeezed so tightly shut.

"Juliet." Kate whimpered and heard how small her own voice was and suddenly couldn't hold in the sob she had been fighting.

Juliet's heart broke looking down at her. "Shhh…" she whispered. Her hands immediately went to work on untying her other bound extremities. She could hear the other voices in the room but had no idea what was being said. "It's alright now…I'm here and I will never let anyone hurt you. Never again, I promise."

Kate was ashamed. She couldn't open her eyes; she knew she was surrounded by strangers. People who didn't know. Juliet knew, though. Juliet knew what Wayne had done to her and how looking up at that man, while being naked, bound and helpless had made her feel like she was a vulnerable little girl again.

Juliet knew that Kate was losing it and carefully wrapped the blanket tighter around her before calmly turning to the arguing voices of the people she didn't know or give a crap about in the room. She unconsciously wrapped her hand around the handle of the gun and put her finger on the trigger, clicking off the safety with her other hand.

The sound was barely audible but it caught the attention of every person within hearing distance. The strange cacophony of folks gathered on the floor and around the room before them suddenly froze looking up at the doctor expectantly.

With a deep bracing breath Juliet once again called upon her old cold calculatingly threatening tone that she had nearly mastered before meeting Kate. "If you don't all leave immediately…" she closed her eyes exhaling roughly before facing them again, "I will start shooting people."

Before the room was even cleared out she had pulled the younger woman close to her, cradling her tenderly in her arms. "Kate, are you alright?" She whispered close to her ear.

Kate tried to smile against her neck, she had been through worse than this, and of course she was alright. As long as the other woman held her she was very alright. "I-"

Juliet knew she was struggling to say something in quavering voice, and respectfully stayed quiet wanting Kate to be able to get what she needed to off her chest. She hugged her shoulders, stroked her hair and pressed her lips tenderly to her forehead.

"I thought he was going to-"Kate looked up into Juliet's eyes for a second and once again buried her face in the other woman's neck as if she wanted to hide.

"That will never happen again, I won't let it." Juliet vowed in an icily certain tone. She immediately understood what Kate had been afraid the man would do to her, what she knew her stepfather had done to her.

Kate heard the steel in her lover's voice and knew that it was true. Then she was crying hard against her, harder than she ever imagined she could cry.

Ben sat on the edge of the tree line where it met the sand of the beach staring out at the ocean as the waves came crashing to the shore. He hadn't heard Richard's approach but felt him sit down beside him. "Richard," He greeted not really surprised to see the other man.

"Ben." Richard said in an equally calm tone.

"Is there something I can do for you?" He asked coldly.

"No," The older man took a deep breath, "I wanted to make sure you were alright."

Ben laughed a little bitterly. "Fine, although I will say a little disappointed."

"You thought Katherine Austin was done for, huh?" He smiled cynically.

"Well hoped anyway." Ben laughed without amusement.

"Ben you must know by now that you will never have her." He sighed wearily. He knew Benjamin Linus well and although he couldn't say he liked the man, not many did, he understood him.

"I know no such thing." Ben said evenly. "It's a strange place we live, all sorts of seemingly impossible things happen around us every day."

Richard laughed softly as they both stared out at the horizon.

THE END

**A/N#1-Ok I'm aware of what a sucky ending this is, but for this story it felt right.**

**A/N#2-I'm halfway through an epiloge though because I kind of want to give the lovely ladies relationship a proper ending. That is actually what this story was supposed to be about before my silly brain took off into all kinds of overdramatic and strange directions, that I had no intention of taking this in. In my defense I couldn't just write a cheesy romance after all the crap I gave my sister for reading them when we were kids…of course as it turns out that was just me being bitter and jealous cause I didn't have any lesbian romance novels.**

**A/N#3-Thank all of you who reviewed so very, very much, and curse you for not letting me just quit to write something new and easy. Seriously thanks, especially Miss GaGa for commenting so regularly and all of the extra encouragement and constructive critisism. Plus OK I get some of you don't wanna talk and so I can't respond to your kind words but I gotta know are Brittany and Bethany Whisper the same person or related in some way?**


	20. Chapter 20

Title: experiments, epilogue

Fandom: LOST

Pairing: Kate/Juliet

Disclaimer: Characters and island are not mine, just the storyline and really that's nothing for the network of ABC to feel threatened by.

A/N# 1- Thanks to everyone who commented on this story. Thank you Anon since I can't respond to your comments-your last one kicked my ass into gear to finish this. I don't think I can write more Kate/Juliet right now. I started a sanctuary story…need new characters to focus on for a while otherwise I risk pissing off my muse. Of course my muse…she's shifty- ya never know I could be back to this next week.

A/N#2- Sorry this took so long…I was kinda stuck.

Kate tightened the last bolt on the panel and wiped the sweat from her brow. She had spent the afternoon with Silas yesterday going over exactly what he did to the generator and how to undo it. It would have been easier for him to just come to the house and do it himself but Juliet was still a bit touchy about him even being on the same island with them and ya know… continuing to breath.

Although it had been nearly ten months since the whole whacked out scene with the gun and their rather strange introduction to the other residents of their cozy little alternate dimension Juliet wasn't quite ready to have their closest neighbor over for tea. Kate had tried to explain that if she held a grudge against everyone who drugged, kidnapped and tied her up the two of them probably wouldn't be together today. Juliet was not amused.

"Here goes nothin'." She mumbled under her breath and gave the start cord a yank. It sputtered and died. Taking a deep breath she leaned into it and using all of her weight to pull with, yanked as hard as she could. She promptly landed on her ass in the dirt but grinned from ear to ear as she heard the engine purr to life. "HAHA!" She squealed victoriously jumping to her feet and then wincing as she rubbed a butt cheek that had found a rather large unfortunately located rock when she hit the ground.

_Part one of sneaky mission to surprise her girlfriend accomplished, _she thought brushing the dirt off and heading into the house. Juliet was beyond the boundary today doing her monthly check-ups on the kids. The villagers that had invited them to enjoy the shelter that the place held from the weather, predators and other dangers of the island had not understood their decision to stay where they were but had respected it. They had been quite excited to discover Juliet was a doctor or healer as some of them referred to her. They went to visit the boundary often and were both a bit relieved to know that they were not entirely alone anymore. They always had some sort of surprising goods to pay Juliet with for her willingness to take them on as patients. Kate was especially fond of Gemma's mango raspberry pie.

They were always happy to be invited to festive occasions that _the tribe _celebrated. Two months ago they had attended Gowan and Hannah's wedding, or _joining_ as Landow called it. He had actually performed the ceremony himself after Hannah had risked her own life to save Gowan when his daughter had fallen into a sixty foot sink hole just outside the boundary. Silas had given his own daughter away. Everyone that was witness had to stifle their amusement at the two father's trying to get over their own prejudices, and be more open minded about the whole thing.

Over the last week Kate had taken advantage of every moment that her partner wasn't around to make preparations for what she hoped would be a very important night in their lives together. She had been thinking about this constantly since Gowan and Hannah had tied the knot and her nerves were entirely frazzled. She had no idea how her significant other would react to her proposition, and knew she was being irrationally insecure, but was terrified of being rejected.

The next half hour she spent stocking the now running fridge with the last of the goodies that were left in the walk in, barely frosty by now. She put the final touches on the extra bedroom they pretty much used for storage now. Then she took the longest hottest most luxurious shower she had ever had in her life. She knew they still didn't have an unending fuel supply for the generator but tonight had to be perfect. She, covered in dirt, engine grease and sweat just wouldn't cut it.

Juliet was tired after the long hike across the island back to their home and smiled happily when she saw Kate was sitting on the porch waiting for her. They had been here, wherever here was, for over a year now and it still gave her a little thrill when she saw the eager animated look on her lovers face when they were reunited after just a short time away from one another. As she got closer she noticed there was something different about Kate, and it wasn't just the fact the younger woman was wearing a dress. She knew her girlfriend was high strung and a little over excitable sometimes and loved her for it, but there was something in the brunette's expression that made her a little wary.

She saw the younger woman take a visibly deep calming breath before she walked out to the tree line to meet her.

"Hey you," Kate greeted trying to sound normal but heard the slight edge in her own voice and took another deep bracing breath before she wrapped the taller woman in a warm welcoming embrace.

"You look pretty." Juliet said as she returned the hug, holding the other woman close and pressing her face into Kate's still damp hair. "Uhmmm…and you smell good."

Kate leaned back a little to meet her eyes and smiled. "You mean clean?" Her lips quirked in amused.

"Yeah," Juliet leaned in and gave her a long soft chaste kiss on the lips. "I love me some clean Kate. Did you go for a swim?"

They had pretty much stopped taking their baths in the tub when the weather improved enough to wash up in the lagoon nearby. Kate averted her eyes a bit but Juliet caught the slight mischievous sparkle there and knew for sure there was something afoot. "Nope," the brunette said simply lacing their fingers together and turning to walk back toward the house.

Juliet glanced at her out of the corner of her eye raising an eyebrow curiously, "No?"

"Nope." Kate did not elaborate but took the medical bag out of her partners other hand to carry it for her. She had made sure the oven was cooled and the fridge unplugged so the humming of the motor would give nothing away before Juliet was due to arrive home wanting nothing to ruin her little surprise.

In the kitchen Kate asked her casually how her afternoon at the '_clinic' _had gone and listened attentively as Juliet told her about her day. She could see a suspicious glint in the blonde's eyes and knew she had to get her upstairs before she figured out what was going on. "You look tired honey," she brushed a lock of hair out of her lady's face, "Come upstairs, I'll give you a backrub."

Juliet was openly smirking now, backrub, bathed nice smelling girlfriend…Kate was clearly in an amorous mood today she thought, not at all unhappy at the idea of going upstairs and making love to the beautiful woman she loved so much. She allowed Kate to take her hand and lead her upstairs. When they entered the bedroom they now shared Juliet's grin grew even wider at the turned down bed. Kate really had _missed_ her.

Juliet felt a chill of anticipation roll through her body as Kate turned and gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek. "Oh, wait, I forgot something." She said suddenly and went to turn back to the hallway until she felt Juliet's hand wrap firmly around her arm and pull her back into her arms startling her with a deep passionate kiss.

When Kate felt herself start to shiver and melt into the kiss she forced herself to break the contact. "Cut it out." She exhaled roughly meeting her partner's eyes. "How my going to focus on giving you a massage if you get me all hot and bothered."

Juliet stubbornly held the smaller woman flush to her leaning in close to her ear and whispered, "I don't need a massage, I just need you." She grinned against the brunette's neck when she felt Kate's hips jerk a little at her husky statement.

Kate had to pry herself free and narrowed her eyes at the older woman, "What am I going to do with you?"

Juliet licked her lips lasciviously her eyes locked on the other woman's, "Do you take suggestions?"

Kate laughed but it came out a raspy sound from low in her throat. "You're tired and sore Burke, get the oil, I'll be right back."

Juliet sighed in disappointment but turned toward the closed bathroom door to grab the jar of homemade moisturizing oil that she had been given as payment for helping a little girl with a fever a few months before. She opened the door and stopped short, her heart seeming to cease thumping mid-beat.

Kate came up behind her wrapping her arms around her waist, pressing in close to her and laying a sweet kiss on the older woman's sweaty dusty neck. "Welcome home."

Juliet leaned back into the other woman's body as a slow smile of recognition spread across her face. "That's nice." She said after close to an entire minute that it took her to find her voice. Ever since she had asked Kate out on their first '_date' _for the fireside steak dinner they seemed to take turns setting up sweet romantic occasions for each other.

Kate's face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning, well like one that didn't grow up in her house, as she peered around the other woman's shoulder to check the blonde's expression. She took in the small room that was lit with a dozen candles spread around it and the tub filled nearly to the brim with still steaming water. The clear delight Juliet's grin showed made her happier than she had ever felt about another person's joy. This just confirmed in her worried mind that she was doing the right thing.

"Ya like?" Kate asked.

Juliet didn't miss the satisfied tone coming from the other woman and turned around in her arms to look her in the eye. "Is this a date?"

"Yup," Kate said starting to unzip the sweatshirt the other woman wore crinkling her nose a little, as she pushed the garment off her shoulders. "But I like my date's to smell a little less like baby vomit."

Juliet laughed agreeably at Kate's criticism as she allowed the other woman to undress her. Looking into the tub she again felt herself becoming a bit suspicious. "That water's clean and still steaming, you carried yourself up a bath and then another one, and wow, you must have actually boiled the water to make it stay this hot."

"All in an excellent girlfriends days work." Kate smiled finding herself becoming distracted as she removed the other woman's bra.

Juliet smirked as she caught Kate staring at her breasts. "Wanna join me?" She asked knowingly.

"What?" Kate's head jerked up to meet the blondes amused eyes. "No, you get in, I really did forget something, I'll be right back."

Kate went back downstairs and grabbed the little box she had hidden under the edge of the couch. Sitting on the couch she tried to control her nerves as she opened it and looked at the necklace she had made for her love. It was by no means a diamond, but Kate looked at the beautiful blue stone she had found on the beach that Gowan had showed her how to file down and shine until it was practically gleaming.

_OK get a grip Austin, _she instructed herself as she got up and moved into the kitchen. She grabbed the chilled bottle of wine, (one of their last three) and went back upstairs. She carefully put the bottle in the bucket of ice she had frozen and looked around to make sure the turntable was set up with the Cat Stevens record, not by any means her first choice for romantic music but after searching the compound, she realized it was probably the best she was gonna do.

She then left the wine on the small table she had lugged from another house and after one final inspection decided with a nod that this was as good as it was going to get. Putting the box down behind the other stuff she went out through the hall to enter the bathroom through the other bedroom as not to raise Juliet's suspicions any more than she knew they already were.

In the bathroom she found her lover reclined comfortably in the tub her head resting on a towel and a wet face cloth covering her eyes as she relaxed. Kate, realizing Juliet hadn't noticed her there yet stood for a moment gazing at her stunningly beautifully content partner. She knew that this was all she wanted…just to make Juliet comfortable and happy.

Juliet startled a little when she heard Kate rubbing the oil between her hands as she kneeled at the head of the tub, and then sighed tranquilly again as she felt Kate's strong hands begin to push into her sore shoulders. "That feels good."

"You're tense…" Kate smiled massaging her shoulders.

"Not anymore," Juliet smiled feeling all the stiffness bleed from her shoulders under Kate's firm ministrations.

"I like it when you're relaxed." Kate stated honestly.

"I could relax you if you would get in here." Juliet said snippily but did not move away from the amazingly wonderful feel of Kate rubbing her shoulders.

"No, you always try to distract me when I want to take you on a date. Forget about it Juliet, tonight is mine and I have plans for you." She grinned, "Plans that you will not sidetrack me from."

Juliet laughed lightly, "I wouldn't dream of it." She sighed once again enjoying the way Kate's fingers continued to knead her shoulders.

"Good." Kate smiled although she didn't quite trust Juliet's word that she wouldn't try to divert her attention.

"So tell me about these plans." Juliet requested quietly.

"I'm going to take you dancing." Kate said in a confident tone.

Juliet laughed loudly, "So the hard rock café then?"

Kate laughed amiably, "Nuh-uh, but if you get out of the tub I'll show you."

Juliet was intrigued. She turned to meet Kate's sparkling eyes and slowly climbed out of the tub. "OK" Juliet watched her girlfriend retreat to their bedroom and returned blushing a little as she handed Juliet the light sundress she had probably found in one of the other houses. She stood there for a moment just holding the dress, then glancing over to the one Kate was wearing. She smiled. "Dresses?"

"I told you I'm taking you dancing." Kate said simply and turned on her heel to walk out of the bathroom, leaving Juliet shaking her head and grinning. Kate paced a bit as she waited for the blonde to get dressed.

When she came out of the bathroom Kate's breath caught in her throat at the sight of her beautiful lover in a pretty dress, her hair loose and damp and her eyes twinkling in expectation. Juliet met her appreciative gaze and felt herself blushing a little. Clearing her throat she asked, "Are their fancy shoes to go with the fancy dress?"

"Huh?" Kate finally found her voice, inarticulate as it was.

Juliet glanced down at her bare feet, before raising her eyes once again to meet Kate's with a smirk. "When one is going dancing one usually where's shoes."

Kate paused realizing that she had missed something, she hadn't even considered foot wear and knew her only two options were Juliet's boots or her filthy sneakers. Or…Kate kicked of the Keds she had been walking around in with no socks. "Shoe's shmoos." She grinned recovering quickly as she moved forward to lace Juliet's arm with her own. "You don't wear shoes when you're dancing; it gets in the way of your feeling the ground under your feet. Plus your feet won't be quite so bruised in the morning if we're barefoot."

Juliet laughed loudly, "You can't be that bad."

"OK." Kate smirked. "Sure-I'm not that bad."

Juliet looked at her suddenly a little nervous. "You're not that bad right?"

"Why don't we let you decide?" Kate grinned evilly.

Juliet looked at the other woman curiously as she began to lead her back into the bathroom. "We're going dancing in the bathroom?"

Kate just smiled and opened the other bedroom door to the darkened room. "Wait, let me grab a candle." Juliet said pausing to turn around and then stopped as Kate reached around the door jamb to hit a switch and suddenly the room was lit up by a couple hundred tiny bulbs over head. She had managed to find thirteen sets of Christmas lights but only seven of them had worked.

Juliet stared overhead at the lights that were strewn across the ceiling for a moment too shocked to move or speak. "You fixed the generator." She finally whispered.

"Uh-huh." Kate smiled proudly.

Juliet's lips curved up into a smile as she looked over at the table that held the wine and the record player. When she looked over at Kate her mind was filled with so many things she wanted to say that she was too overwhelmed to pick one.

"I know it's not the ritz…" Kate shrugged self consciously.

"It's perfect, it's beautiful, and you're beautiful." Before Kate's lips had the chance to finish the smile she was working on Juliet's were covering hers. The blonde was kissing her forcefully, pushing her tongue in to swirl around Kate's. She was desperate to show her how wonderful she was, how wonderful all of this was and her brain wasn't working enough to tell her this in words at the moment. Wrapping her arms around her she pulled her close and finally breathlessly broke the kiss and rested her head on Kate's shoulder happily not willing to release her yet.

"I'll take that as a sign of approval." Kate said rubbing her lover's lower back with tiny soothing circles.

"I love it." Juliet said tightening her grip.

"Then," Kate began pulling away so she could look into the blonde's eyes shyly through her dark lashes, "Would you care to dance?"

"I'd love to dance with you." Juliet dropped her arms to let Kate move away to play the record. Her grin split her face in half when she heard Wild World star to play. She tried to remember if she had ever told Kate how much she loved Cat Stevens, but didn't think so.

Kate walked slowly back over to stand in front of Juliet and bowed deeply, "Ma'am?" She extended her hand.

Juliet laughed loudly at Kate's over the top debonair, as she took the other woman's hand and allowed herself to be led out onto the _dance floor or you know the middle of their previous storage unit. _"What did you do with all the stuff?" She inquired as she felt one of Kate's arms wrap around her waist, the other landing on her shoulder and wrapped her own around Kate's neck.

"Uhmmm…let's just hope it doesn't rain tonight." Kate muttered a little embarrassed.

"Back yard?" Juliet smirked.

"You would have seen it if I put it in the living room." She defended swirling Juliet gracefully around the floor.

"You said you couldn't dance." Juliet said surprised.

"Nope, I don't think I said that," She said suddenly dipping the other woman in a very smooth sudden move, before pulling her back up into her arms.

"You are a bit evil." Juliet laughed letting herself be pulled in closer than she had been before.

"Miss Burke, you have no idea." Kate whispered close to her ear.

"Oh I think I've got some idea-Miss Austin." Juliet teased back.

They danced through the first side of the album, hips swaying and bodies pressing with the occasional comment or kiss. When the record ended Kate grabbed the blanket she had tucked under the table and spread it out on the floor. It was not lost on Juliet that it was the same blanket they had eaten their dinner on their first date. "Sit down." Kate said and went to pour them each a glass of wine. With her back turned she took a couple of deep bracing breaths as she looked down at the box concealed behind the record player.

Juliet was watching her with what could only be called a smitten look on her face. When she sat down facing her she handed her the glass and was about to take a sip when Juliet put her hand on her slight wrist. "Wait." She smiled.

Kate paused and smiled when the older woman raised her glass to her. "To my lovely Kate, who never ceases to amaze me with her kind generosity, thoughtfulness, and creativity."

Kate felt her cheeks heat as the other woman moved her glass to clink it with her own. They both drank their wine in companionable silence as Kate recovered from her embarrassment at Juliet's praise. After they had pretty much polished off the bottle Kate was leaning against the wall and Juliet was between her legs lying comfortably in her arms. "I thought it was great that Gowan and Hannah decided to tie the knot." Kate said trying to sound casual.

"Mmmm…." Juliet murmured her agreement. "They're very sweet and so cute together."

Taking a deep breath Kate reached up to grab the box on the table beside them. "We're kinda cute together." Kate said leaning around to kiss Juliet's pale smooth cheek.

Juliet laughed lightly. "Cute is not the word I'd use to describe us."

Kate stiffened a little. "No?" her voice was a little strained as she slipped the box behind her hip suddenly thinking she may have made a big mistake.

Juliet felt Kate's small frame become a little rigid around her and smiled knowingly turning her head around and up to look into Kate's slightly hurt eyes. "We are way better than cute…we're amazing together."

Kate relaxed again and leaned down to kiss Juliet's lips softly before mumbling. "Burke- I ah- I wanted to ask you something."

Juliet leaned up again to continue the kiss, annoyed with the interruption. She felt like Kate was struggling with something as she returned the kiss for a moment and then broke it. "What's the matter?" she asked gently turning more in her arms so she could examine the brunette's nervous expression with a worried one of her own.

"I was thinking…" Kate began untangling herself from her so she was kneeling in front of the other woman who was staring at her curiously. "I wondered if- maybe you would…"

"Spit it out Kate." Juliet smiled broadly now having an idea of what the younger woman was trying to say.

Kate's eyes shot up to meet her amused ones. She swallowed hard and opened her mouth to let the words fall out of he almost unbidden. "I love you Juliet Burke. I love you more than I thought I even could love anyone. I want to be with you all the time. I love talking to you, making love with you, taking care of you, I love you taking care of me…and usually I hate anyone trying to take care of me." She stammered shaking her head with a deep breath "I don't ever want this to end. If we suddenly woke up tomorrow back in the seventies at the dharma initiative or back in the real world I wouldn't care as long as you were still with me. I'm yours Juliet, forever. I wondered if maybe you wanted to be mine." She finished with a frustrated sigh looking down at her hands at how lame she knew that whole thing had sounded.

Juliet's eyes were filled with tears. She sniffled softly and lifted Kate's chin forcing the other woman to meet her eyes. "Are you asking me to marry you?"

"Well I was trying to, but I'm-I don't know how to-"Her eyes were filled with apology and uncertainty.

"Yes." Juliet cut her off smiling.

"Yes?" Kate asked shocked.

"I already am yours silly. I've been yours since I first layed eyes on you in that stupid file Ben had on you." She leaned in to kiss Kate's forehead tenderly, "I love you."

Kate's smile lit up her face. "Yeah?"

"You had to know that." Juliet grinned caressing her cheek, "I thought I made myself pretty clear."

"Well," Kate smirked, "You _were_ kissing my ass even before you were kissing my lips."

Juliet's mouth dropped open in mortification as she recalled kissing the younger woman's derriere after giving her the shot the night she rescued her from the storm. "Evil." She smiled evenly.

"I told ya, you had no idea." Kate grinned pulling the box out from behind her and suddenly thrusting it at Kate. "It's no diamond-but the jewelry store was such a trek and you know how much I hate to shop…"

Juliet opened the box and gazed down at the necklace feeling her heart skip a beat. "Its perfect." she said putting the box on the floor and lifting out the simple black cord with the beautiful blue stone.

Kate reached over taking it from her and looking at her hesitantly holding it up in front of her, "May I?"

Juliet smiled warmly turning around and lifting her hair out of the way as the brunette placed it around her neck and tying a quick tight knot at the nape of her neck. When Juliet turned back around looking at her expectantly she felt herself shiver at the content satisfied expression on Kate's face.

"It looks good on you." She smiled proudly.

"You look better on me." Juliet said in a deep seductive tone.

"Bed time then?" Kate asked eyeing the other woman almost predatorily.

"Bed time." Juliet nodded in agreement her tone low and sexy.

Kate stood quickly and turned off the lights and record player. She grabbed Juliet's hand and helped her up as they made their way across the room by the moonlight streaming in through the window.

When they reached their bed in the other room Juliet stooped reaching down to lift the dress over Kate's head leaving her in only her underwear. Kate did the same and they both stood there for a moment gazing into each other's eyes wearing nothing but their panties. Kate took a deep breath, her eyes glancing up and down the length of the blonde's body, "I can't believe you said yes. I was afraid you'd laugh or worse, maybe try to let me down gently."

Juliet watched as the other woman's eyes fell to look at the floor. She took her face in her hands and turned it up so their eyes met. "Kate, how can you possibly think that I don't want to be with you as much as you want to be with me?"

"I ah-sorry I'm just being stupid I guess." Kate murmured.

"Sometimes you act like you are," Juliet gave her a gentle shove down to the bed.

Kate smiled up at her, "Nice Burke, one minute you accept my marriage proposal and then you call me stupid."

"I so didn't call you stupid." Juliet smiled crawling up over the younger woman, "I said sometimes you act that way. There is nothing I want more than to spend the rest of my days with you and you know it."

Kate sighed as she felt Juliet lean down to kiss her eagerly. When the blonde took her lower lip between her own and suckled lightly she groaned in pleasure arching up so their breasts were pressing tightly against one another. When she felt Juliet's teeth clamp down on said lip before murmuring "Mine" she began to shiver at the possessive tone of her voice. She felt her entire body beginning to respond to Juliet's touch and pulled them both further up on the bed wanting them to be comfortable.

Juliet released her bottom lip and began kissing across her cheek until her lips were pressed softly to spot behind her ear that she knew drove the brunette crazy. "I want to be inside you." She whispered.

"Mmmm….yes…please." Kate whimpered and groaned as she felt Juliet's fingers reach between her legs. When they began to play in her copious moisture teasingly she groaned miserably. "Now,"

Juliet smiled kissing down her neck as she continued to play at her opening wanting to draw out Kate's pleasure. "You are so wet."

Kate's entire body convulsed at the combination of Juliet's words and her teasing touch. "Don't be mean." Kate begged thrusting her hips forward trying to capture the older woman's fingers.

"No baby," Juliet murmured slipping two fingers easily inside of her. "I won't be mean, I want you to feel good, I want to be the one that makes you feel good always." She stated in a steady and meaningful voice.

Kate began moving her hips in tandem with the rhythm Juliet had set up sliding in and out of her. "You do…you are- the only one…" she gasped.

"Come for me Kate." Juliet demanded suddenly curling her fingers inside of her and pressing her clit with her thumb all at once. She was completely gratified as the other woman's body began to shiver beneath her.

"Oh god, it feels so good!" She felt her body jerking uncontrollably, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Uhmmm…." Juliet moaned as she felt Kate's liquid arousal leak out to cover her fingers, her internal muscles simultaneously squeezing them.

When Kate stopped moving Juliet wrapped her in her arms to hold her close her fingers sill buried deep inside her.

"I love the way you look…the way you feel when you reach the end." Juliet whispered close to her ear slowly withdrawing her fingers feeling a gratifying shudder from the brunette. She held her close whispering precious sweet nothings into her ear as she came down.

Suddenly Kate flipped her over on the bed so she was lying on top of her. "I want _you_; I want to make _you_ come for me now."

Juliet gasped looking up into the lust filled eyes exploring her face. "Yes."

Kate kissed down to her breasts hungrily kissing, licking and suckling at the beautifully almost painfully erect nipples. "Jesus you're on fire Juliet."

"I need you Kate." She mumbled desperately writhing beneath her lover. "Please,"

"Shhh…it's ok, I'm here," she looked up to meet her eyes reassuringly before moving steadily lower down her body, kissing and licking her favorite spots along the way, and glancing up once more to look her in the eye before lowering her mouth and lapping hungrily at her engorged clit.

"Kate!" she screamed, "Don't stop…please."

Kate didn't stop as she continued to lavish attention on the spot she knew her lover needed her hand moving up between her thighs so she could push two fingers inside her drenched folds. As she began to push in and pull out she reveled in the happy moans of her lover knowing she would never need anything more than that sound to be happy. When Juliet came the brunette too felt her insides clench with incredible satisfaction. Moving up she pulled her into her arms and whispered into her ear how much she loved her and how lucky she felt to have found her.

They fell asleep in each other's arms wanting and needing for nothing.

They both knew they had everything right here and now wherever that was as long as they had the other.

No really *the end*.


End file.
